8086 Tutorial

Numbering Systems Tutorial
What is it?
There are many ways to represent the same numeric value. Long ago, humans used sticks
to count, and later learned how to draw pictures of sticks in the ground and eventually on
paper. So, the number 5 was first represented as: | | | | | (for five sticks).
Later on, the Romans began using different symbols for multiple numbers of sticks: | |
| still meant three sticks, but a V now meant five sticks, and an X was used to
represent ten of them!
Using sticks to count was a great idea for its time. And using symbols instead of real
sticks was much better. One of the best ways to represent a number today is by using the
modern decimal system. Why? Because it includes the major breakthrough of using a
symbol to represent the idea of counting nothing. About 1500 years ago in India, zero
(0) was first used as a number! It was later used in the Middle East as the Arabic, sifr.
And was finally introduced to the West as the Latin, zephiro. Soon you'll see just how
valuable an idea this is for all modern number systems.
Decimal System
Most people today use decimal representation to count. In the decimal system there are
10 digits:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
These digits can represent any value, for example: 754.
The value is formed by the sum of each digit, multiplied by the base (in this case it is 10
because there are 10 digits in decimal system) in power of digit position (counting from
zero):
Position of each digit is very important! for example if you place "7" to the end:
547
it will be another value:
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Important note: any number in power of zero is 1, even zero in power of zero is 1:
Binary System
Computers are not as smart as humans are (or not yet), it's easy to make an electronic
machine with two states: on and off, or 1 and 0.
Computers use binary system, binary system uses 2 digits:
0, 1
And thus the base is 2.
Each digit in a binary number is called a BIT, 4 bits form a NIBBLE, 8 bits form a
BYTE, two bytes form a WORD, two words form a DOUBLE WORD (rarely used):
There is a convention to add "b" in the end of a binary number, this way we can
determine that 101b is a binary number with decimal value of 5.
The binary number 10100101b equals to decimal value of 165:
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Hexadecimal System
Hexadecimal System uses 16 digits:
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F
And thus the base is 16.
Hexadecimal numbers are compact and easy to read.

It is very easy to convert numbers from binary system to hexadecimal system and vice-
versa, every nibble (4 bits) can be converted to a hexadecimal digit using this table:
Decimal Binary Hexadecimal

(base 10) (base 2) (base 16)
0 0000 0
1 0001 1
2 0010 2
3 0011 3
4 0100 4
5 0101 5
6 0110 6
7 0111 7
8 1000 8
9 1001 9
10 1010 A
11 1011 B
12 1100 C
13 1101 D
14 1110 E
15 1111 F
There is a convention to add "h" in the end of a hexadecimal number, this way we can
determine that 5Fh is a hexadecimal number with decimal value of 95.
We also add "0" (zero) in the beginning of hexadecimal numbers that begin with a letter
(A..F), for example 0E120h.
The hexadecimal number 1234h is equal to decimal value of 4660:
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Converting from Decimal System to Any Other
In order to convert from decimal system, to any other system, it is required to divide the
decimal value by the base of the desired system, each time you should remember the
result and keep the remainder, the divide process continues until the result is zero.
The remainders are then used to represent a value in that system.
Let's convert the value of 39 (base 10) to Hexadecimal System (base 16):
As you see we got this hexadecimal number: 27h.

All remainders were below 10 in the above example, so we do not use any letters.
Here is another more complex example:

let's convert decimal number 43868 to hexadecimal form:
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The result is 0AB5Ch, we are using the above table to convert remainders over 9 to
corresponding letters.
Using the same principle we can convert to binary form (using 2 as the divider), or
convert to hexadecimal number, and then convert it to binary number using the above
table:
As you see we got this binary number: 1010101101011100b
Signed Numbers
There is no way to say for sure whether the hexadecimal byte 0FFh is positive or
negative, it can represent both decimal value "255" and "- 1".
8 bits can be used to create 256 combinations (including zero), so we simply presume that
first 128 combinations (0..127) will represent positive numbers and next 128
combinations (128..256) will represent negative numbers.
In order to get "- 5", we should subtract 5 from the number of combinations (256), so it
we'll get: 256 - 5 = 251.
Using this complex way to represent negative numbers has some meaning, in math when
you add "- 5" to "5" you should get zero.
This is what happens when processor adds two bytes 5 and 251, the result gets over 255,
because of the overflow processor gets zero!
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When combinations 128..256 are used the high bit is always 1, so this maybe used to
determine the sign of a number.
The same principle is used for words (16 bit values), 16 bits create 65536 combinations,
first 32768 combinations (0..32767) are used to represent positive numbers, and next
32768 combinations (32767..65535) represent negative numbers.
There are some handy tools in emu8086 to convert numbers, and make calculations of
any numerical expressions, all you need is a click on Math menu:
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Base converter allows you to convert numbers from any system and to any system. Just
type a value in any text-box, and the value will be automatically converted to all other
systems. You can work both with 8 bit and 16 bit values.
Multi base calculator can be used to make calculations between numbers in different
systems and convert numbers from one system to another. Type an expression and press
enter, result will appear in chosen numbering system. You can work with values up to 32
bits. When Signed is checked evaluator assumes that all values (except decimal and
double words) should be treated as signed. Double words are always treated as signed
values, so 0FFFFFFFFh is converted to -1.
For example you want to calculate: 0FFFFh * 10h + 0FFFFh (maximum memory
location that can be accessed by 8086 CPU). If you check Signed and Word you will get
-17 (because it is evaluated as (-1) * 16 + (-1) . To make calculation with unsigned values
uncheck Signed so that the evaluation will be 65535 * 16 + 65535 and you should get
1114095.
You can also use the base converter to convert non-decimal digits to signed decimal
values, and do the calculation with decimal values (if it's easier for you).
These operation are supported:
~ not (inverts all bits).

* multiply.
/ divide.
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% modulus.
+ sum.
- subtract (and unary -).
<< shift left.
>> shift right.
& bitwise AND.
^ bitwise XOR.
| bitwise OR.
Binary numbers must have "b" suffix, example:

00011011b
Hexadecimal numbers must have "h" suffix, and start with a zero
when first digit is a letter (A..F), example:
0ABCDh
Octal (base 8) numbers must have "o" suffix, example:

77o
8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 1)
this tutorial is intended for those who are not familiar with assembler at all, or have a
very distant idea about it. of course if you have knowledge of some high level
programming language (java, basic, c/c++, pascal...) that may help you a lot.
but even if you are familiar with assembler, it is still a good idea to look through this
document in order to study emu8086 syntax.
it is assumed that you have some knowledge about number representation (hex/bin), if
not it is highly recommended to study numbering systems tutorial before you proceed.
what is assembly language?
assembly language is a low level programming language. you need to get some
knowledge about computer structure in order to understand anything. the simple
computer model as i see it:
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the system bus (shown in yellow) connects the various components of a computer.
The CPU is the heart of the computer, most of computations occur inside the CPU.
RAM is a place to where the programs are loaded in order to be executed.
inside the CPU
general purpose registers
8086 CPU has 8 general purpose registers, each register has its own name:
 AX - the accumulator register (divided into AH / AL).
 BX - the base address register (divided into BH / BL).
 CX - the count register (divided into CH / CL).
 DX - the data register (divided into DH / DL).
 SI - source index register.
 DI - destination index register.
 BP - base pointer.
 SP - stack pointer.
despite the name of a register, it's the programmer who determines the usage for each
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general purpose register. the main purpose of a register is to keep a number (variable). the
size of the above registers is 16 bit, it's something like: 0011000000111001b (in binary
form), or 12345 in decimal (human) form.
4 general purpose registers (AX, BX, CX, DX) are made of two separate 8 bit registers,
for example if AX= 0011000000111001b, then AH=00110000b and AL=00111001b.
therefore, when you modify any of the 8 bit registers 16 bit register is also updated, and
vice-versa. the same is for other 3 registers, "H" is for high and "L" is for low part.
because registers are located inside the cpu, they are much faster than memory. accessing
a memory location requires the use of a system bus, so it takes much longer. accessing
data in a register usually takes no time. therefore, you should try to keep variables in the
registers. register sets are very small and most registers have special purposes which limit
their use as variables, but they are still an excellent place to store temporary data of
calculations.
segment registers
 CS - points at the segment containing the current program.

 DS - generally points at segment where variables are defined.
 ES - extra segment register, it's up to a coder to define its usage.
 SS - points at the segment containing the stack.
although it is possible to store any data in the segment registers, this is never a good idea.
the segment registers have a very special purpose - pointing at accessible blocks of
memory.
segment registers work together with general purpose register to access any memory
value. For example if we would like to access memory at the physical address 12345h
(hexadecimal), we should set the DS = 1230h and SI = 0045h. This is good, since this
way we can access much more memory than with a single register that is limited to 16 bit
values.
CPU makes a calculation of physical address by multiplying the segment register by 10h
and adding general purpose register to it (1230h * 10h + 45h = 12345h):
the address formed with 2 registers is called an effective address.

by default BX, SI and DI registers work with DS segment register;
BP and SP work with SS segment register.
Other general purpose registers cannot form an effective address!
also, although BX can form an effective address, BH and BL cannot.
special purpose registers
 IP - the instruction pointer.

 flags register - determines the current state of the microprocessor.
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IP register always works together with CS segment register and it points to currently
executing instruction.
flags register is modified automatically by CPU after mathematical operations, this
allows to determine the type of the result, and to determine conditions to transfer control
to other parts of the program.
generally you cannot access these registers directly, the way you can access AX and other
general registers, but it is possible to change values of system registers using some tricks
that you will learn a little bit later.
Memory Access
to access memory we can use these four registers: BX, SI, DI, BP.
combining these registers inside [ ] symbols, we can get different memory locations.
these combinations are supported (addressing modes):
[BX + SI] [SI] [BX + SI + d8]

[BX + DI] [DI] [BX + DI + d8]
[BP + SI] d16 (variable offset only) [BP + SI + d8]
[BP + DI] [BX] [BP + DI + d8]
[SI + d8] [BX + SI + d16] [SI + d16]

[DI + d8] [BX + DI + d16] [DI + d16]
[BP + d8] [BP + SI + d16] [BP + d16]
[BX + d8] [BP + DI + d16] [BX + d16]
d8 - stays for 8 bit signed immediate displacement (for example: 22, 55h, -1, etc...)
d16 - stays for 16 bit signed immediate displacement (for example: 300, 5517h, -259,
etc...).
displacement can be a immediate value or offset of a variable, or even both. if there are
several values, assembler evaluates all values and calculates a single immediate value..
displacement can be inside or outside of the [ ] symbols, assembler generates the same
machine code for both ways.
displacement is a signed value, so it can be both positive or negative.
generally the compiler takes care about difference between d8 and d16, and generates the
required machine code.
for example, let's assume that DS = 100, BX = 30, SI = 70.

The following addressing mode: [BX + SI] + 25
is calculated by processor to this physical address: 100 * 16 + 30 + 70 + 25 = 1725.
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by default DS segment register is used for all modes except those with BP register, for
these SS segment register is used.
there is an easy way to remember all those possible combinations using this chart:
you can form all valid combinations by taking only one item from each column or
skipping the column by not taking anything from it. as you see BX and BP never go
together. SI and DI also don't go together. here are an examples of a valid addressing
modes: [BX+5] , [BX+SI] , [DI+BX-4]
the value in segment register (CS, DS, SS, ES) is called a segment,
and the value in purpose register (BX, SI, DI, BP) is called an offset.
When DS contains value 1234h and SI contains the value 7890h it can be also recorded
as 1234:7890. The physical address will be 1234h * 10h + 7890h = 19BD0h.
if zero is added to a decimal number it is multiplied by 10, however 10h = 16, so if zero
is added to a hexadecimal value, it is multiplied by 16, for example:
7h = 7
70h = 112
in order to say the compiler about data type,

these prefixes should be used:
byte ptr - for byte.

word ptr - for word (two bytes).
for example:
byte ptr [BX] ; byte access.
or
word ptr [BX] ; word access.
assembler supports shorter prefixes as well:
b. - for byte ptr

w. - for word ptr
sometimes compiler can calculate the data type automatically, but you may not and
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should not rely on that when one of the operands is an immediate value.
MOV instruction
 copies the second operand (source) to the first operand (destination).
 the source operand can be an immediate value, general-purpose register or

memory location.
 the destination register can be a general-purpose register, or memory location.
 both operands must be the same size, which can be a byte or a word.
these types of operands are supported:
MOV REG, memory

MOV memory, REG
MOV REG, REG
MOV memory, immediate
MOV REG, immediate
REG: AX, BX, CX, DX, AH, AL, BL, BH, CH, CL, DH, DL, DI, SI, BP, SP.
memory: [BX], [BX+SI+7], variable, etc...
immediate: 5, -24, 3Fh, 10001101b, etc...
for segment registers only these types of MOV are supported:
MOV SREG, memory

MOV memory, SREG
MOV REG, SREG
MOV SREG, REG
SREG: DS, ES, SS, and only as second operand: CS.
the MOV instruction cannot be used to set the value of the CS and IP registers.
here is a short program that demonstrates the use of MOV instruction:
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ORG 100h ; this directive required for a simple 1 segment .com program.
MOV AX, 0B800h ; set AX to hexadecimal value of B800h.
MOV DS, AX ; copy value of AX to DS.
MOV CL, 'A' ; set CL to ASCII code of 'A', it is 41h.
MOV CH, 1101_1111b ; set CH to binary value.
MOV BX, 15Eh ; set BX to 15Eh.
MOV [BX], CX ; copy contents of CX to memory at B800:015E
RET ; returns to operating system.
you can copy & paste the above program to the code editor, and press [Compile and
Emulate] button (or press F5 key on your keyboard).
the emulator window should open with this program loaded, click [Single Step] button
and watch the register values.
how to do copy & paste:
1. select the above text using mouse, click before the text and drag it down until
everything is selected.
2. press Ctrl + C combination to copy.

3. go to the source editor and press Ctrl + V combination to paste.
as you may guess, ";" is used for comments, anything after ";" symbol is ignored by
compiler.
you should see something like that when program finishes:
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actually the above program writes directly to video memory, so you may see that MOV is
a very powerful instruction.
Variables
Variable is a memory location. For a programmer it is much easier to have some value be
kept in a variable named "var1" then at the address 5A73:235B, especially when you
have 10 or more variables.
Our compiler supports two types of variables: BYTE and WORD.
Syntax for a variable declaration:
name DB value
name DW value
DB - stays for Define Byte.

DW - stays for Define Word.
name - can be any letter or digit combination, though it should start with a letter. It's
possible to declare unnamed variables by not specifying the name (this variable will have
an address but no name).
value - can be any numeric value in any supported numbering system (hexadecimal,
binary, or decimal), or "?" symbol for variables that are not initialized.
As you probably know from part 2 of this tutorial, MOV instruction is used to copy
values from source to destination.
Let's see another example with MOV instruction:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, var1

MOV BX, var2
RET ; stops the program.
VAR1 DB 7
var2 DW 1234h
Copy the above code to the source editor, and press F5 key to compile it and load in the
emulator. You should get something like:
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As you see this looks a lot like our example, except that variables are replaced with actual
memory locations. When compiler makes machine code, it automatically replaces all
variable names with their offsets. By default segment is loaded in DS register (when
COM files is loaded the value of DS register is set to the same value as CS register -
code segment).
In memory list first row is an offset, second row is a hexadecimal value, third row is
decimal value, and last row is an ASCII character value.
Compiler is not case sensitive, so "VAR1" and "var1" refer to the same variable.
The offset of VAR1 is 0108h, and full address is 0B56:0108.
The offset of var2 is 0109h, and full address is 0B56:0109, this variable is a WORD so
it occupies 2 BYTES. It is assumed that low byte is stored at lower address, so 34h is
located before 12h.
You can see that there are some other instructions after the RET instruction, this happens
because disassembler has no idea about where the data starts, it just processes the values
in memory and it understands them as valid 8086 instructions (we will learn them later).
You can even write the same program using DB directive only:
ORG 100h
DB 0A0h
DB 08h
DB 01h
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DB 8Bh
DB 1Eh
DB 09h
DB 01h
DB 0C3h
DB 7
DB 34h
DB 12h
Copy the above code to the source editor, and press F5 key to compile and load it in the
emulator. You should get the same disassembled code, and the same functionality!
As you may guess, the compiler just converts the program source to the set of bytes, this
set is called machine code, processor understands the machine code and executes it.
ORG 100h is a compiler directive (it tells compiler how to handle the source code). This
directive is very important when you work with variables. It tells compiler that the
executable file will be loaded at the offset of 100h (256 bytes), so compiler should
calculate the correct address for all variables when it replaces the variable names with
their offsets. Directives are never converted to any real machine code.
Why executable file is loaded at offset of 100h? Operating system keeps some data about
the program in the first 256 bytes of the CS (code segment), such as command line
parameters and etc.
Though this is true for COM files only, EXE files are loaded at offset of 0000, and
generally use special segment for variables. Maybe we'll talk more about EXE files later.
Arrays
Arrays can be seen as chains of variables. A text string is an example of a byte array, each
character is presented as an ASCII code value (0..255).
Here are some array definition examples:
a DB 48h, 65h, 6Ch, 6Ch, 6Fh, 00h

b DB 'Hello', 0
b is an exact copy of the a array, when compiler sees a string inside quotes it
automatically converts it to set of bytes. This chart shows a part of the memory where
these arrays are declared:
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You can access the value of any element in array using square brackets, for example:
MOV AL, a[3]
You can also use any of the memory index registers BX, SI, DI, BP, for example:
MOV SI, 3
MOV AL, a[SI]
If you need to declare a large array you can use DUP operator.
The syntax for DUP:
number DUP ( value(s) )

number - number of duplicate to make (any constant value).
value - expression that DUP will duplicate.
for example:
c DB 5 DUP(9)
is an alternative way of declaring:
c DB 9, 9, 9, 9, 9
one more example:

d DB 5 DUP(1, 2)
is an alternative way of declaring:
d DB 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2
Of course, you can use DW instead of DB if it's required to keep values larger then 255,
or smaller then -128. DW cannot be used to declare strings.
Getting the Address of a Variable
There is LEA (Load Effective Address) instruction and alternative OFFSET operator.
Both OFFSET and LEA can be used to get the offset address of the variable.
LEA is more powerful because it also allows you to get the address of an indexed
variables. Getting the address of the variable can be very useful in some situations, for
example when you need to pass parameters to a procedure.
Reminder:
In order to tell the compiler about data type,
these prefixes should be used:
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BYTE PTR - for byte.
WORD PTR - for word (two bytes).
For example:
BYTE PTR [BX] ; byte access.
or
WORD PTR [BX] ; word access.
assembler supports shorter prefixes as well:
b. - for BYTE PTR

w. - for WORD PTR
sometimes compiler can calculate the data type automatically, but you may not and
should not rely on that when one of the operands is an immediate value.
Here is first example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, VAR1 ; check value of

VAR1 by moving it to AL.
LEA BX, VAR1 ; get address of

VAR1 in BX.
MOV BYTE PTR [BX], 44h ; modify

the contents of VAR1.

RET
VAR1 DB 22h
END
Here is another example, that uses OFFSET instead of LEA:
ORG 100h
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MOV BX, OFFSET VAR1 ; get

address of VAR1 in BX.
MOV BYTE PTR [BX], 44h ; modify

the contents of VAR1.

RET
VAR1 DB 22h
END
Both examples have the same functionality.
These lines:
LEA BX, VAR1
MOV BX, OFFSET VAR1
are even compiled into the same machine code: MOV BX, num
num is a 16 bit value of the variable offset.
Please note that only these registers can be used inside square brackets (as memory
pointers): BX, SI, DI, BP!
(see previous part of the tutorial).
Constants
Constants are just like variables, but they exist only until your program is compiled
(assembled). After definition of a constant its value cannot be changed. To define
constants EQU directive is used:
name EQU < any expression >
For example:
k EQU 5
MOV AX, k
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The above example is functionally identical to code:
MOV AX, 5
You can view variables while your program executes by selecting "Variables" from the
"View" menu of emulator.
To view arrays you should click on a variable and set Elements property to array size. In
assembly language there are not strict data types, so any variable can be presented as an
array.
Variable can be viewed in any numbering system:

 HEX - hexadecimal (base 16).
 BIN - binary (base 2).
 OCT - octal (base 8).
 SIGNED - signed decimal (base 10).
 UNSIGNED - unsigned decimal (base 10).
 CHAR - ASCII char code (there are 256 symbols, some symbols are invisible).
You can edit a variable's value when your program is running, simply double click it, or
select it and click Edit button.
It is possible to enter numbers in any system, hexadecimal numbers should have "h"
suffix, binary "b" suffix, octal "o" suffix, decimal numbers require no suffix. String can
be entered this way:
'hello world', 0
(this string is zero terminated).
Arrays may be entered this way:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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(the array can be array of bytes or words, it depends whether BYTE or WORD is
selected for edited variable).
Expressions are automatically converted, for example:

when this expression is entered:
5+2
it will be converted to 7 etc...
Interrupts
Interrupts can be seen as a number of functions. These functions make the programming
much easier, instead of writing a code to print a character you can simply call the
interrupt and it will do everything for you. There are also interrupt functions that work
with disk drive and other hardware. We call such functions software interrupts.
Interrupts are also triggered by different hardware, these are called hardware interrupts.
Currently we are interested in software interrupts only.
To make a software interrupt there is an INT instruction, it has very simple syntax:
INT value
Where value can be a number between 0 to 255 (or 0 to 0FFh),

generally we will use hexadecimal numbers.
You may think that there are only 256 functions, but that is not correct. Each interrupt
may have sub-functions.
To specify a sub-function AH register should be set before calling interrupt.
Each interrupt may have up to 256 sub-functions (so we get 256 * 256 = 65536
functions). In general AH register is used, but sometimes other registers maybe in use.
Generally other registers are used to pass parameters and data to sub-function.
The following example uses INT 10h sub-function 0Eh to type a "Hello!" message. This
functions displays a character on the screen, advancing the cursor and scrolling the screen
as necessary.
ORG 100h ; instruct compiler to

make simple single segment .com file.
; The sub-function that we are using

; does not modify the AH register on
; return, so we may set it only once.
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MOV AH, 0Eh ; select sub-function.
; INT 10h / 0Eh sub-function

; receives an ASCII code of the
; character that will be printed
; in AL register.
MOV AL, 'H' ; ASCII code: 72

INT 10h ; print it!
MOV AL, 'e' ; ASCII code: 101

INT 10h ; print it!
MOV AL, 'l' ; ASCII code: 108

INT 10h ; print it!
MOV AL, 'l' ; ASCII code: 108

INT 10h ; print it!
MOV AL, 'o' ; ASCII code: 111

INT 10h ; print it!
MOV AL, '!' ; ASCII code: 33

INT 10h ; print it!
Copy & paste the above program to the source code editor, and press [Compile and
Emulate] button. Run it!
The list of all interrupts that are currently supported by the emulator.
These interrupts should be compatible will IBM PC and all generations of x86, original
Intel 8086 and AMD compatible microprocessors, however Windows XP may overwrite
some of the original interrupts.
Quick reference:
INT 10h/00h INT 10h/1003h INT 21h INT 21h/35h INT 33h/0000h
INT 10h/01h INT 11h INT 21h/01h INT 21h/39h INT 33h/0001h
INT 10h/02h INT 12h INT 21h/02h INT 21h/3Ah INT 33h/0002h
INT 10h/03h INT 13h/00h INT 21h/05h INT 21h/3Bh INT 33h/0003h
INT 10h/05h INT 13h/02h INT 21h/06h INT 21h/3Ch
INT 10h/06h INT 13h/03h INT 21h/07h INT 21h/3Dh
INT 10h/07h INT 15h/86h INT 21h/09h INT 21h/3Eh
INT 10h/08h INT 16h/00h INT 21h/0Ah INT 21h/3Fh
INT 10h/09h INT 16h/01h INT 21h/0Bh INT 21h/40h
INT 10h/0Ah INT 19h INT 21h/0Ch INT 21h/41h
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INT 21h/0Eh
INT 10h/0Ch INT 21h/42h
INT 21h/19h
INT 10h/0Dh INT 1Ah/00h INT 21h/47h
INT 21h/25h
INT 10h/0Eh INT 20h INT 21h/4Ch
INT 21h/2Ah
INT 10h/13h INT 21h/56h
INT 21h/2Ch
the short list of supported interrupts with descriptions:
INT 10h / AH = 0 - set video mode.
input:
AL = desired video mode.
these video modes are supported:
00h - text mode. 40x25. 16 colors. 8 pages.
13h - graphical mode. 40x25. 256 colors. 320x200 pixels. 1 page.
example:
mov al, 13h

mov ah, 0
int 10h
INT 10h / AH = 01h - set text-mode cursor shape.
input:
CH = cursor start line (bits 0-4) and options (bits 5-7).
CL = bottom cursor line (bits 0-4).
when bit 5 of CH is set to 0, the cursor is visible. when bit 5 is 1, the

cursor is not visible.
; hide blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 32
mov ah, 1
int 10h
; show standard blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 6
Page 24 of 161
mov cl, 7
mov ah, 1
int 10h
; show box-shaped blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 0
mov cl, 7
mov ah, 1
int 10h
; note: some bioses required CL to be >=7,

; otherwise wrong cursor shapes are displayed.
INT 10h / AH = 2 - set cursor position.
input:
DH = row.
DL = column.
BH = page number (0..7).
example:
mov dh, 10
mov dl, 20
mov bh, 0
mov ah, 2
int 10h
INT 10h / AH = 03h - get cursor position and size.
input:
BH = page number.
return:
DH = row.
DL = column.
CH = cursor start line.
CL = cursor bottom line.
INT 10h / AH = 05h - select active video page.
input:
AL = new page number (0..7).
the activated page is displayed.
Page 25 of 161
INT 10h / AH = 06h - scroll up window.
INT 10h / AH = 07h - scroll down window.
input:
AL = number of lines by which to scroll (00h = clear entire window).
BH = attribute used to write blank lines at bottom of window.
CH, CL = row, column of window's upper left corner.
DH, DL = row, column of window's lower right corner.
INT 10h / AH = 08h - read character and attribute at cursor position.
input:
BH = page number.
return:
AH = attribute.
AL = character.
INT 10h / AH = 09h - write character and attribute at cursor position.
input:
AL = character to display.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute.
CX = number of times to write character.
INT 10h / AH = 0Ah - write character only at cursor position.
input:
BH = page number.
INT 10h / AH = 0Ch - change color for a single pixel.
input:
AL = pixel color
CX = column.
DX = row.
example:
mov al, 13h

Page 26 of 161
mov ah, 0
int 10h ; set graphics video mode.
mov al, 1100b
mov cx, 10
mov dx, 20
mov ah, 0ch
int 10h ; set pixel.
INT 10h / AH = 0Dh - get color of a single pixel.
input:
CX = column.
DX = row.
output:
AL = pixel color
INT 10h / AH = 0Eh - teletype output.
input:
AL = character to write.
this functions displays a character on the screen, advancing the cursor and scrolling the
screen as necessary. the printing is always done to current active page.
example:
mov al, 'a'

mov ah, 0eh
int 10h
; note: on specific systems this

; function may not be supported in graphics mode.
INT 10h / AH = 13h - write string.
input:
AL = write mode:
bit 0: update cursor after writing;
bit 1: string contains attributes.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute if string contains only characters (bit 1 of AL is zero).
CX = number of characters in string (attributes are not counted).
DL,DH = column, row at which to start writing.
ES:BP points to string to be printed.
example:
Page 27 of 161
mov al, 1
mov bh, 0
mov bl, 0011_1011b
mov cx, msg1end - offset msg1 ; calculate message size.
mov dl, 10
mov dh, 7
push cs
pop es
mov bp, offset msg1
mov ah, 13h
int 10h
jmp msg1end
msg1 db " hello, world! "
msg1end:
INT 10h / AX = 1003h - toggle intensity/blinking.
input:
BL = write mode:
0: enable intensive colors.
1: enable blinking (not supported by the emulator and windows
command prompt).
BH = 0 (to avoid problems on some adapters).
example:
mov ax, 1003h

mov bx, 0
int 10h
bit color table:

character attribute is 8 bit value, low 4 bits set fore color, high 4 bits set background
color.
note: the emulator and windows command line prompt do not support background
blinking, however to make colors look the same in dos and in full screen mode it is
required to turn off the background blinking.
HEX BIN COLOR
0 0000 black
1 0001 blue
2 0010 green
3 0011 cyan
4 0100 red
5 0101 magenta
6 0110 brown
7 0111 light gray
Page 28 of 161
8 1000 dark gray
9 1001 light blue
A 1010 light green
B 1011 light cyan
C 1100 light red
D 1101 light magenta
E 1110 yellow
F 1111 white
note:
; use this code for compatibility with dos/cmd prompt full screen mode:
mov ax, 1003h
mov bx, 0 ; disable blinking.
int 10h
INT 11h - get BIOS equipment list.
return:
AX = BIOS equipment list word, actually this call returns the contents of
the word at 0040h:0010h.
Currently this function can be used to determine the number of installed

number of floppy disk drives.
Bit fields for BIOS-detected installed hardware:

Bit(s) Description
15-14 number of parallel devices.
13 not supported.
12 game port installed.
11-9 number of serial devices.
8 reserved.
7-6 number of floppy disk drives (minus 1):
00 single floppy disk;
01 two floppy disks;
10 three floppy disks;
11 four floppy disks.
5-4 initial video mode:
00 EGA,VGA,PGA, or other with on-board video BIOS;
01 40x25 CGA color;
10 80x25 CGA color (emulator default);
11 80x25 mono text.
3 not supported.
2 not supported.
1 math coprocessor installed.
0 set when booted from floppy (always set by the emulator).
Page 29 of 161
INT 12h - get memory size.
return:
AX = kilobytes of contiguous memory starting at absolute address
00000h, this call returns the contents of the word at 0040h:0013h.
Floppy drives are emulated using FLOPPY_0(..3) files.
INT 13h / AH = 00h - reset disk system, (currently this call doesn't do anything).
INT 13h / AH = 02h - read disk sectors into memory.

INT 13h / AH = 03h - write disk sectors.
input:
AL = number of sectors to read/write (must be nonzero)

CH = cylinder number (0..79).
CL = sector number (1..18).
DH = head number (0..1).
DL = drive number (0..3 , for the emulator it depends on
quantity of FLOPPY_ files).
ES:BX points to data buffer.
return:
CF set on error.
CF clear if successful.
AH = status (0 - if successful).
AL = number of sectors transferred.
Note: each sector has 512 bytes.
INT 15h / AH = 86h - BIOS wait function.
input:
CX:DX = interval in microseconds

Page 30 of 161
return:
CF clear if successful (wait interval elapsed),

CF set on error or when wait function is already in
progress.
Note:
the resolution of the wait period is 977 microseconds on

many systems (1 million microseconds - 1 second).
Windows XP does not support this interrupt (always sets
CF=1).
INT 16h / AH = 00h - get keystroke from keyboard (no echo).
return:
AH = BIOS scan code.

AL = ASCII character.
(if a keystroke is present, it is removed from the keyboard
buffer).
INT 16h / AH = 01h - check for keystroke in the keyboard buffer.
return:
ZF = 1 if keystroke is not available.

ZF = 0 if keystroke available.
(if a keystroke is present, it is not removed from the
keyboard buffer).
INT 19h - system reboot.
Usually, the BIOS will try to read sector 1, head 0, track 0 from drive A:
to 0000h:7C00h. The emulator just stops the execution, to boot from
floppy drive select from the menu: 'virtual drive' -> 'boot from floppy'
Page 31 of 161
INT 1Ah / AH = 00h - get system time.
return:
CX:DX = number of clock ticks since midnight.

AL = midnight counter, advanced each time midnight
passes.
notes:
there are approximately 18.20648 clock ticks per second,
and 1800B0h per 24 hours.
AL is not set by the emulator.
INT 20h - exit to operating system.
The short list of emulated MS-DOS interrupts -- INT 21h
DOS file system is emulated in C:\emu8086\vdrive\x (x is a drive letter)
If no drive letter is specified and current directory is not set, then C:\emu8086\MyBuild\
path is used by default. FLOPPY_0,1,2,3 files are emulated independently from DOS
file system.
For the emulator physical drive A: is this file c:\emu8086\FLOPPY_0 (for BIOS
interrupts: INT 13h and boot).
For DOS interrupts (INT 21h) drive A: is emulated in this subdirectory:

C:\emu8086\vdrive\a\
Note: DOS file system limits the file and directory names to 8 characters, extension is
limited to 3 characters;
example of a valid file name: myfile.txt (file name = 6 chars, extension - 3 chars).
extension is written after the dot, no other dots are allowed.
INT 21h / AH=1 - read character from standard input, with echo, result is stored in AL.
if there is no character in the keyboard buffer, the function waits until any key is pressed.
example:
Page 32 of 161
mov ah, 1
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=2 - write character to standard output.

entry: DL = character to write, after execution AL = DL.
example:
mov ah, 2
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=5 - output character to printer.

entry: DL = character to print, after execution AL = DL.
example:
mov ah, 5
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=6 - direct console input or output.
parameters for output: DL = 0..254 (ascii code)

parameters for input: DL = 255
for output returns: AL = DL

for input returns: ZF set if no character available and AL = 00h, ZF clear if character
available.
AL = character read; buffer is cleared.
example:
mov ah, 6
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h ; output character.
mov ah, 6
mov dl, 255
int 21h ; get character from keyboard buffer (if any) or set ZF=1.
Page 33 of 161
INT 21h / AH=7 - character input without echo to AL.
example:
mov ah, 7
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=9 - output of a string at DS:DX. String must be terminated by '$'.
example:
org 100h
mov dx, offset msg
mov ah, 9
int 21h
ret
msg db "hello world $"
INT 21h / AH=0Ah - input of a string to DS:DX, fist byte is buffer size, second byte is
number of chars actually read. this function does not add '$' in the end of string. to print
using INT 21h / AH=9 you must set dollar character at the end of it and start printing
from address DS:DX + 2.
example:
org 100h
mov dx, offset buffer
mov ah, 0ah
int 21h
jmp print
buffer db 10,?, 10 dup(' ')
print:
xor bx, bx
mov bl, buffer[1]
mov buffer[bx+2], '$'
mov dx, offset buffer + 2
Page 34 of 161
mov ah, 9
int 21h
ret
the function does not allow to enter more characters than the specified buffer size.
see also int21.asm in c:\emu8086\examples
INT 21h / AH=0Bh - get input status;

returns: AL = 00h if no character available, AL = 0FFh if character is available.
INT 21h / AH=0Ch - flush keyboard buffer and read standard input.
entry: AL = number of input function to execute after flushing buffer (can be
01h,06h,07h,08h, or 0Ah - for other values the buffer is flushed but no input is
attempted); other registers as appropriate for the selected input function.
INT 21h / AH= 0Eh - select default drive.
Entry: DL = new default drive (0=A:, 1=B:, etc)
Return: AL = number of potentially valid drive letters
Notes: the return value is the highest drive present.
INT 21h / AH= 19h - get current default drive.
Return: AL = drive (0=A:, 1=B:, etc)
INT 21h / AH=25h - set interrupt vector;

input: AL = interrupt number. DS:DX -> new interrupt handler.
Page 35 of 161
INT 21h / AH=2Ah - get system date;
return: CX = year (1980-2099). DH = month. DL = day. AL = day of week
(00h=Sunday)
INT 21h / AH=2Ch - get system time;

return: CH = hour. CL = minute. DH = second. DL = 1/100 seconds.
INT 21h / AH=35h - get interrupt vector;

entry: AL = interrupt number;
return: ES:BX -> current interrupt handler.
INT 21h / AH= 39h - make directory.

entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname; zero terminated string, for example:
org 100h
mov dx, offset filepath
mov ah, 39h
int 21h
ret
filepath DB "C:\mydir", 0 ; path to be created.

end
the above code creates c:\emu8086\vdrive\C\mydir directory if run by the emulator.
Return: CF clear if successful AX destroyed. CF set on error AX = error code.

Note: all directories in the given path must exist except the last one.
INT 21h / AH= 3Ah - remove directory.
Page 36 of 161
Entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname of directory to be removed.
Return:
CF is clear if successful, AX destroyed CF is set on error AX = error code.
Notes: directory must be empty (there should be no files inside of it).
INT 21h / AH= 3Bh - set current directory.
Entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname to become current directory (max 64 bytes).
Return:
Carry Flag is clear if successful, AX destroyed.

Carry Flag is set on error AX = error code.
Notes: even if new directory name includes a drive letter, the default drive is not changed,
only the current directory on that drive.
INT 21h / AH= 3Ch - create or truncate file.
entry:
CX = file attributes:
mov cx, 0 ; normal - no attributes.

mov cx, 1 ; read-only.
mov cx, 2 ; hidden.
mov cx, 4 ; system
mov cx, 7 ; hidden, system and read-only!
mov cx, 16 ; archive
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename.
returns:
CF clear if successful, AX = file handle.

CF set on error AX = error code.
note: if specified file exists it is deleted without a warning.
example:
Page 37 of 161
org 100h
mov ah, 3ch
mov cx, 0
mov dx, offset filename
mov ah, 3ch
int 21h
jc err
mov handle, ax
jmp k
filename db "myfile.txt", 0
handle dw ?
err:
; ....
k:
ret
INT 21h / AH= 3Dh - open existing file.
Entry:
AL = access and sharing modes:
mov al, 0 ; read

mov al, 1 ; write
mov al, 2 ; read/write
Return:

note 1: file pointer is set to start of file.

note 2: file must exist.
example:
org 100h
mov al, 2
mov ah, 3dh
int 21h
jc err
Page 38 of 161
mov handle, ax
jmp k
handle dw ?
err:
; ....
k:
ret
INT 21h / AH= 3Eh - close file.
Entry: BX = file handle
Return:
CF clear if successful, AX destroyed.

CF set on error, AX = error code (06h).
INT 21h / AH= 3Fh - read from file.
Entry:
BX = file handle.
CX = number of bytes to read.
DS:DX -> buffer for data.
Return:
CF is clear if successful - AX = number of bytes actually read; 0 if at EOF (end of file)

before call.
CF is set on error AX = error code.
Note: data is read beginning at current file position, and the file position is updated after a
successful read the returned AX may be smaller than the request in CX if a partial read
occurred.
INT 21h / AH= 40h - write to file.
entry:
Page 39 of 161
BX = file handle.
CX = number of bytes to write.
DS:DX -> data to write.
return:
CF clear if successful; AX = number of bytes actually written.

CF set on error; AX = error code.
note: if CX is zero, no data is written, and the file is truncated or extended to the current
position data is written beginning at the current file position, and the file position is
updated after a successful write the usual cause for AX < CX on return is a full disk.
INT 21h / AH= 41h - delete file (unlink).
Entry:
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename (no wildcards, but see notes).
return:
CF clear if successful, AX destroyed. AL is the drive of deleted file (undocumented).

Note: DOS does not erase the file's data; it merely becomes inaccessible because the FAT
chain for the file is cleared deleting a file which is currently open may lead to filesystem
corruption.
INT 21h / AH= 42h - SEEK - set current file position.
Entry:
AL = origin of move: 0 - start of file. 1 - current file position. 2 - end of file.

BX = file handle.
CX:DX = offset from origin of new file position.
Return:
CF clear if successful, DX:AX = new file position in bytes from start of file.
CF set on error, AX = error code.
Page 40 of 161
Notes:
for origins 1 and 2, the pointer may be positioned before the start of the file; no error is
returned in that case, but subsequent attempts to read or write the file will produce errors.
If the new position is beyond the current end of file, the file will be extended by the next
write (see AH=40h).
example:
org 100h
mov ah, 3ch
mov cx, 0
mov ah, 3ch
int 21h ; create file...
mov handle, ax
mov bx, handle

mov dx, offset data
mov cx, data_size
mov ah, 40h
int 21h ; write to file...
mov al, 0
mov bx, handle
mov cx, 0
mov dx, 7
mov ah, 42h
int 21h ; seek...
mov bx, handle

mov cx, 4
mov ah, 3fh
int 21h ; read from file...
mov bx, handle

mov ah, 3eh
int 21h ; close file...
ret
handle dw ?
data db " hello files! "
data_size=$-offset data
buffer db 4 dup(' ')
Page 41 of 161
INT 21h / AH= 47h - get current directory.
Entry:
DL = drive number (00h = default, 01h = A:, etc)

DS:SI -> 64-byte buffer for ASCIZ pathname.
Return:
Carry is clear if successful

Carry is set on error, AX = error code (0Fh)
Notes:
the returned path does not include a drive and the initial backslash.
INT 21h / AH=4Ch - return control to the operating system (stop program).
INT 21h / AH= 56h - rename file / move file.
Entry:
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename of existing file.

ES:DI -> ASCIZ new filename.
Return:
Note: allows move between directories on same logical drive only; open files should not
be renamed!
mouse driver interrupts -- INT 33h
Page 42 of 161
INT 33h / AX=0000 - mouse ininialization. any previous mouse pointer is hidden.
returns:
if successful: AX=0FFFFh and BX=number of mouse buttons.

if failed: AX=0
example:
mov ax, 0
int 33h
see also: mouse.asm in examples.
INT 33h / AX=0001 - show mouse pointer.
example:
mov ax, 1
int 33h
INT 33h / AX=0002 - hide visible mouse pointer.
example:
mov ax, 2
int 33h
INT 33h / AX=0003 - get mouse position and status of its buttons.
returns:
if left button is down: BX=1

if right button is down: BX=2
if both buttons are down: BX=3
CX = x
DX = y
Page 43 of 161
example:
mov ax, 3
int 33h
; note: in graphical 320x200 mode the value of CX is doubled.

; see mouse2.asm in examples.
Library of common functions - emu8086.inc
To make programming easier there are some common functions that can be included in
your program. To make your program use functions defined in other file you should use
the INCLUDE directive followed by a file name. Compiler automatically searches for
the file in the same folder where the source file is located, and if it cannot find the file
there - it searches in Inc folder.
Currently you may not be able to fully understand the contents of the emu8086.inc
(located in Inc folder), but it's OK, since you only need to understand what it can do.
To use any of the functions in emu8086.inc you should have the following line in the
beginning of your source file:
include 'emu8086.inc'
emu8086.inc defines the following macros:
 PUTC char - macro with 1 parameter, prints out an ASCII char at current cursor
position.
 GOTOXY col, row - macro with 2 parameters, sets cursor position.

 PRINT string - macro with 1 parameter, prints out a string.
 PRINTN string - macro with 1 parameter, prints out a string. The same as PRINT
but automatically adds "carriage return" at the end of the string.
 CURSOROFF - turns off the text cursor.
 CURSORON - turns on the text cursor.
To use any of the above macros simply type its name somewhere in your code, and if
required parameters, for example:
include emu8086.inc
ORG 100h
PRINT 'Hello World!'
Page 44 of 161
GOTOXY 10, 5
PUTC 65 ; 65 - is an ASCII code for

'A'
PUTC 'B'
RET ; return to operating system.

END ; directive to stop the
compiler.
When compiler process your source code it searches the emu8086.inc file for
declarations of the macros and replaces the macro names with real code. Generally
macros are relatively small parts of code, frequent use of a macro may make your
executable too big (procedures are better for size optimization).
emu8086.inc also defines the following procedures:
 PRINT_STRING - procedure to print a null terminated string at current cursor

position, receives address of string in DS:SI register. To use it declare:
DEFINE_PRINT_STRING before END directive.
 PTHIS - procedure to print a null terminated string at current cursor position (just
as PRINT_STRING), but receives address of string from Stack. The ZERO
TERMINATED string should be defined just after the CALL instruction. For
example:
CALL PTHIS
db 'Hello World!', 0
To use it declare: DEFINE_PTHIS before END directive.

 GET_STRING - procedure to get a null terminated string from a user, the
received string is written to buffer at DS:DI, buffer size should be in DX.
Procedure stops the input when 'Enter' is pressed. To use it declare:
DEFINE_GET_STRING before END directive.
 CLEAR_SCREEN - procedure to clear the screen, (done by scrolling entire
screen window), and set cursor position to top of it. To use it declare:
DEFINE_CLEAR_SCREEN before END directive.
 SCAN_NUM - procedure that gets the multi-digit SIGNED number from the
keyboard, and stores the result in CX register. To use it declare:
DEFINE_SCAN_NUM before END directive.
 PRINT_NUM - procedure that prints a signed number in AX register. To use it
declare: DEFINE_PRINT_NUM and DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS before
END directive.
 PRINT_NUM_UNS - procedure that prints out an unsigned number in AX
register. To use it declare: DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS before END directive.
Page 45 of 161
To use any of the above procedures you should first declare the function in the bottom of
your file (but before the END directive), and then use CALL instruction followed by a
procedure name. For example:
ORG 100h
LEA SI, msg1 ; ask for the number

CALL print_string ;
CALL scan_num ; get number in CX.
MOV AX, CX ; copy the number to

AX.
; print the following string:

CALL pthis
DB 13, 10, 'You have entered: ', 0
CALL print_num ; print number in

AX.
RET ; return to operating

system.
msg1 DB 'Enter the number: ', 0
DEFINE_SCAN_NUM
DEFINE_PRINT_STRING
DEFINE_PRINT_NUM
DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS ; required
for print_num.
DEFINE_PTHIS

compiler.
First compiler processes the declarations (these are just regular the macros that are
expanded to procedures). When compiler gets to CALL instruction it replaces the
procedure name with the address of the code where the procedure is declared. When
CALL instruction is executed control is transferred to procedure. This is quite useful,
since even if you call the same procedure 100 times in your code you will still have
relatively small executable size. Seems complicated, isn't it? That's ok, with the time you
will learn more, currently it's required that you understand the basic principle.
Page 46 of 161
Arithmetic and Logic Instructions
Most Arithmetic and Logic Instructions affect the processor status register (or Flags)
As you may see there are 16 bits in this register, each bit is called a flag and can take a
value of 1 or 0.
 Carry Flag (CF) - this flag is set to 1 when there is an unsigned overflow. For
example when you add bytes 255 + 1 (result is not in range 0...255). When there
is no overflow this flag is set to 0.
 Zero Flag (ZF) - set to 1 when result is zero. For none zero result this flag is set
to 0.
 Sign Flag (SF) - set to 1 when result is negative. When result is positive it is set
to 0. Actually this flag take the value of the most significant bit.
 Overflow Flag (OF) - set to 1 when there is a signed overflow. For example,
when you add bytes 100 + 50 (result is not in range -128...127).
 Parity Flag (PF) - this flag is set to 1 when there is even number of one bits in
result, and to 0 when there is odd number of one bits. Even if result is a word only
8 low bits are analyzed!
 Auxiliary Flag (AF) - set to 1 when there is an unsigned overflow for low nibble
(4 bits).
 Interrupt enable Flag (IF) - when this flag is set to 1 CPU reacts to interrupts
from external devices.
 Direction Flag (DF) - this flag is used by some instructions to process data
chains, when this flag is set to 0 - the processing is done forward, when this flag is
set to 1 the processing is done backward.
There are 3 groups of instructions.
First group: ADD, SUB,CMP, AND, TEST, OR, XOR
These types of operands are supported:
Page 47 of 161
REG, memory
memory, REG
REG, REG
memory, immediate
REG, immediate
After operation between operands, result is always stored in first operand. CMP and
TEST instructions affect flags only and do not store a result (these instruction are used to
make decisions during program execution).
These instructions affect these flags only:

CF, ZF, SF, OF, PF, AF.
 ADD - add second operand to first.
 SUB - Subtract second operand to first.

 CMP - Subtract second operand from first for flags only.
 AND - Logical AND between all bits of two operands. These rules apply:
1 AND 1 = 1
1 AND 0 = 0
0 AND 1 = 0
0 AND 0 = 0
As you see we get 1 only when both bits are 1.
 TEST - The same as AND but for flags only.
 OR - Logical OR between all bits of two operands. These rules apply:
1 OR 1 = 1
1 OR 0 = 1
0 OR 1 = 1
0 OR 0 = 0
As you see we get 1 every time when at least one of the bits is 1.
 XOR - Logical XOR (exclusive OR) between all bits of two operands. These
rules apply:
1 XOR 1 = 0
1 XOR 0 = 1
0 XOR 1 = 1
0 XOR 0 = 0
Page 48 of 161
As you see we get 1 every time when bits are different from each other.
Second group: MUL, IMUL, DIV, IDIV
REG
memory
MUL and IMUL instructions affect these flags only:

CF, OF
When result is over operand size these flags are set to 1, when result fits in operand size
these flags are set to 0.
For DIV and IDIV flags are undefined.
 MUL - Unsigned multiply:
when operand is a byte:

AX = AL * operand.
when operand is a word:

(DX AX) = AX * operand.
 IMUL - Signed multiply:

AX = AL * operand.

(DX AX) = AX * operand.
 DIV - Unsigned divide:

AL = AX / operand
AH = remainder (modulus). .

AX = (DX AX) / operand
DX = remainder (modulus). .
 IDIV - Signed divide:
Page 49 of 161
AL = AX / operand
AH = remainder (modulus). .

DX = remainder (modulus). .
Third group: INC, DEC, NOT, NEG
REG
memory
INC, DEC instructions affect these flags only:

ZF, SF, OF, PF, AF.
NOT instruction does not affect any flags!
NEG instruction affects these flags only:

CF, ZF, SF, OF, PF, AF.
 NOT - Reverse each bit of operand.
 NEG - Make operand negative (two's complement). Actually it reverses each bit
of operand and then adds 1 to it. For example 5 will become -5, and -2 will
become 2.
program flow control
controlling the program flow is a very important thing, this is where your program can
make decisions according to certain conditions.
 unconditional jumps
The basic instruction that transfers control to another point in the program is
JMP.
The basic syntax of JMP instruction:
JMP label
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To declare a label in your program, just type its name and add ":" to the end, label
can be any character combination but it cannot start with a number, for example
here are 3 legal label definitions:
label1:
label2:
a:
Label can be declared on a separate line or before any other instruction, for
example:
x1:
MOV AX, 1
x2: MOV AX, 2
here's an example of JMP instruction:
org 100h
mov ax, 5 ; set ax to 5.

mov bx, 2 ; set bx to 2.
jmp calc ; go to 'calc'.
back: jmp stop ; go to 'stop'.
calc:
add ax, bx ; add bx to ax.
jmp back ; go 'back'.
stop:
ret ; return to operating system.
Of course there is an easier way to calculate the some of two numbers, but it's still
a good example of JMP instruction.
As you can see from this example JMP is able to transfer control both forward
and backward. It can jump anywhere in current code segment (65,535 bytes).
 Short Conditional Jumps
Unlike JMP instruction that does an unconditional jump, there are instructions
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that do a conditional jumps (jump only when some conditions are in act). These
instructions are divided in three groups, first group just test single flag, second
compares numbers as signed, and third compares numbers as unsigned.
Jump instructions that test single flag
Opposite
Instruction Description Condition
Instruction
JZ , JE Jump if Zero (Equal). ZF = 1 JNZ, JNE
Jump if Carry (Below, Not

JC , JB, JNAE CF = 1 JNC, JNB, JAE
Above Equal).
JS Jump if Sign. SF = 1 JNS
JO Jump if Overflow. OF = 1 JNO
JPE, JP Jump if Parity Even. PF = 1 JPO
JNZ , JNE Jump if Not Zero (Not Equal). ZF = 0 JZ, JE
JNC , JNB, Jump if Not Carry (Not Below,

CF = 0 JC, JB, JNAE
JAE Above Equal).
JNS Jump if Not Sign. SF = 0 JS
JNO Jump if Not Overflow. OF = 0 JO
JPO, JNP Jump if Parity Odd (No Parity). PF = 0 JPE, JP


as you may already notice there are some instructions that do that same thing,
that's correct, they even are assembled into the same machine code, so it's good to
remember that when you compile JE instruction - you will get it disassembled as:
JZ, JC is assembled the same as JB etc...
different names are used to make programs easier to understand, to code and most
importantly to remember. very offset dissembler has no clue what the original
instruction was look like that's why it uses the most common name.
if you emulate this code you will see that all instructions are assembled into JNB,
the operational code (opcode) for this instruction is 73h this instruction has fixed
length of two bytes, the second byte is number of bytes to add to the IP register if
the condition is true. because the instruction has only 1 byte to keep the offset it is
limited to pass control to -128 bytes back or 127 bytes forward, this value is
always signed.

 jnc a
 jnb a
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 jae a

 mov ax, 4
 a: mov ax, 5
 ret


Jump instructions for signed numbers

Opposite
Instruction
Jump if Equal (=).

JE , JZ ZF = 1 JNE, JNZ
Jump if Zero.
Jump if Not Equal (<>).

JNE , JNZ ZF = 0 JE, JZ
Jump if Not Zero.
Jump if Greater (>). ZF = 0

JG , JNLE Jump if Not Less or Equal (not and JNG, JLE
<=). SF = OF
Jump if Less (<).

JL , JNGE Jump if Not Greater or Equal (not SF <> OF JNL, JGE
>=).
Jump if Greater or Equal (>=).

JGE , JNL SF = OF JNGE, JL
Jump if Not Less (not <).
ZF = 1
Jump if Less or Equal (<=).
JLE , JNG or JNLE, JG
Jump if Not Greater (not >).
SF <> OF

<> - sign means not equal.
Jump instructions for unsigned numbers

Opposite
Instruction
Jump if Equal (=).

JE , JZ ZF = 1 JNE, JNZ
Jump if Zero.
Jump if Not Equal (<>).

JNE , JNZ ZF = 0 JE, JZ
Jump if Not Zero.
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Jump if Above (>). CF = 0
JA , JNBE Jump if Not Below or Equal and JNA, JBE
(not <=). ZF = 0
Jump if Below (<).

Jump if Not Above or Equal
JB , JNAE, JC CF = 1 JNB, JAE, JNC
(not >=).
Jump if Carry.
Jump if Above or Equal (>=).

JAE , JNB,
Jump if Not Below (not <). CF = 0 JNAE, JB
JNC
Jump if Not Carry.
CF = 1
Jump if Below or Equal (<=).
JBE , JNA or JNBE, JA
Jump if Not Above (not >).
ZF = 1

Generally, when it is required to compare numeric values CMP instruction is used

(it does the same as SUB (subtract) instruction, but does not keep the result, just
affects the flags).
The logic is very simple, for example:

it's required to compare 5 and 2,
5-2=3
the result is not zero (Zero Flag is set to 0).
Another example:
it's required to compare 7 and 7,
7-7=0
the result is zero! (Zero Flag is set to 1 and JZ or JE will do the jump).
here's an example of CMP instruction and conditional jump:

 include "emu8086.inc"

 org 100h

 mov al, 25 ; set al to 25.
 mov bl, 10 ; set bl to 10.

 cmp al, bl ; compare al - bl.

 je equal ; jump if al = bl (zf = 1).

 putc 'n' ; if it gets here, then al <> bl,
 jmp stop ; so print 'n', and jump to stop.
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
 equal: ; if gets here,
 putc 'y' ; then al = bl, so print 'y'.

 stop:

 ret ; gets here no matter what.


try the above example with different numbers for AL and BL, open flags by
clicking on flags button, use single step and see what happens. you can use F5
hotkey to recompile and reload the program into the emulator.


loops
opposite
instruction operation and jump condition
instruction
DEC CX and
LOOP decrease cx, jump to label if cx not zero.
JCXZ
decrease cx, jump to label if cx not zero and

LOOPE LOOPNE
equal (zf = 1).
decrease cx, jump to label if cx not zero and not

LOOPNE LOOPE
equal (zf = 0).
decrease cx, jump to label if cx not zero and zf

LOOPNZ LOOPZ
= 0.
decrease cx, jump to label if cx not zero and zf

LOOPZ LOOPNZ
= 1.
OR CX, CX and
JCXZ jump to label if cx is zero.
JNZ

loops are basically the same jumps, it is possible to code loops without using the
loop instruction, by just using conditional jumps and compare, and this is just
what loop does. all loop instructions use CX register to count steps, as you know
CX register has 16 bits and the maximum value it can hold is 65535 or FFFF,
however with some agility it is possible to put one loop into another, and another
into another two, and three and etc... and receive a nice value of 65535 * 65535 *
65535 ....till infinity.... or the end of ram or stack memory. it is possible store
original value of cx register using push cx instruction and return it to original
when the internal loop ends with pop cx, for example:

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 org 100h

 mov bx, 0 ; total step counter.

 mov cx, 5
 k1: add bx, 1
 mov al, '1'
 mov ah, 0eh
 int 10h
 push cx
 mov cx, 5
 k2: add bx, 1
 mov al, '2'
 mov ah, 0eh
 int 10h
 push cx
 mov cx, 5
 k3: add bx, 1
 mov al, '3'
 mov ah, 0eh
 int 10h
 loop k3 ; internal in internal loop.
 pop cx
 loop k2 ; internal loop.
 pop cx
 loop k1 ; external loop.

 ret

 bx counts total number of steps, by default emulator shows values in hexadecimal,
you can double click the register to see the value in all available bases.
just like all other conditional jumps loops have an opposite companion that can
help to create workarounds, when the address of desired location is too far
assemble automatically assembles reverse and long jump instruction, making total
of 5 bytes instead of just 2, it can be seen in disassembler as well.
for more detailed description and examples refer to complete 8086 instruction
set


All conditional jumps have one big limitation, unlike JMP instruction they can
only jump 127 bytes forward and 128 bytes backward (note that most instructions
are assembled into 3 or more bytes).
We can easily avoid this limitation using a cute trick:

o Get an opposite conditional jump instruction from the table above, make it
jump to label_x.
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o Use JMP instruction to jump to desired location.
o Define label_x: just after the JMP instruction.
label_x: - can be any valid label name, but there must not be two or more labels
with the same name.
here's an example:
include "emu8086.inc"
org 100h
mov al, 5
mov bl, 5
cmp al, bl ; compare al - bl.
; je equal ; there is only 1 byte
jne not_equal ; jump if al <> bl (zf = 0).

jmp equal
not_equal:
add bl, al
sub al, 10
xor al, bl
jmp skip_data
db 256 dup(0) ; 256 bytes
skip_data:
putc 'n' ; if it gets here, then al <> bl,

jmp stop ; so print 'n', and jump to stop.
equal: ; if gets here,

putc 'y' ; then al = bl, so print 'y'.
stop:
ret
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note: the latest version of emu8086 automatically creates a workaround by replacing
the conditional jump with the opposite, and adding unconditional jump. you can see
in disassembly that instead of one jump instruction there are 2. in fact, reverse
condition just decides if to make big jump or not, if it does it goes to big jump
instruction, if it does it skips it. label is just an address mark, it is used by assembler
to make the correct jump, but by itself it is not assembled in any code. to check if
you have the latest version of emu8086 click help->check for an update.
Another, yet rarely used method is providing an immediate value instead of label. When
immediate value starts with $ relative jump is performed, otherwise compiler calculates
instruction that jumps directly to given offset. For example:
org 100h
; unconditional jump forward:

; skip over next 3 bytes + itself
; the machine code of short jmp instruction
takes 2 bytes.
jmp $3+2
a db 3 ; 1 byte.
b db 4 ; 1 byte.
c db 4 ; 1 byte.
; conditional jump back 5 bytes:

mov bl,9
dec bl ; 2 bytes.
cmp bl, 0 ; 3 bytes.
jne $-5 ; jump 5 bytes back
ret
Procedures
Procedure is a part of code that can be called from your program in order to make some
specific task. Procedures make program more structural and easier to understand.
Generally procedure returns to the same point from where it was called.
The syntax for procedure declaration:
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name PROC
; here goes the code

; of the procedure ...
RET
name ENDP
name - is the procedure name, the same name should be in the top and the bottom, this is
used to check correct closing of procedures.
Probably, you already know that RET instruction is used to return to operating system.
The same instruction is used to return from procedure (actually operating system sees
your program as a special procedure).
PROC and ENDP are compiler directives, so they are not assembled into any real
machine code. Compiler just remembers the address of procedure.
CALL instruction is used to call a procedure.
Here is an example:
ORG 100h
CALL m1
MOV AX, 2

system.
m1 PROC
MOV BX, 5
RET ; return to caller.
m1 ENDP
END
The above example calls procedure m1, does MOV BX, 5, and returns to the next
instruction after CALL: MOV AX, 2.
There are several ways to pass parameters to procedure, the easiest way to pass
parameters is by using registers, here is another example of a procedure that receives two
parameters in AL and BL registers, multiplies these parameters and returns the result in
AX register:
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ORG 100h
MOV AL, 1
MOV BL, 2
CALL m2
CALL m2
CALL m2
CALL m2

system.
m2 PROC
MUL BL ; AX = AL * BL.
m2 ENDP
END
In the above example value of AL register is update every time the procedure is called,
BL register stays unchanged, so this algorithm calculates 2 in power of 4,
so final result in AX register is 16 (or 10h).
Here goes another example,

that uses a procedure to print a Hello World! message:
ORG 100h
LEA SI, msg ; load address of msg to SI.
CALL print_me
;
==========================================================
; this procedure prints a string, the string should be null
; terminated (have zero in the end),
; the string address should be in SI register:
print_me PROC
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next_char:
CMP b.[SI], 0 ; check for zero to stop
JE stop ;
MOV AL, [SI] ; next get ASCII char.
MOV AH, 0Eh ; teletype function number.

INT 10h ; using interrupt to print a char in AL.
ADD SI, 1 ; advance index of string array.
JMP next_char ; go back, and type another char.
stop:
print_me ENDP
;
==========================================================
msg DB 'Hello World!', 0 ; null terminated string.
END
"b." - prefix before [SI] means that we need to compare bytes, not words. When you need
to compare words add "w." prefix instead. When one of the compared operands is a
register it's not required because compiler knows the size of each register.
The Stack
Stack is an area of memory for keeping temporary data. Stack is used by CALL
instruction to keep return address for procedure, RET instruction gets this value from the
stack and returns to that offset. Quite the same thing happens when INT instruction calls
an interrupt, it stores in stack flag register, code segment and offset. IRET instruction is
used to return from interrupt call.
We can also use the stack to keep any other data,

there are two instructions that work with the stack:
PUSH - stores 16 bit value in the stack.
POP - gets 16 bit value from the stack.
Syntax for PUSH instruction:
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PUSH REG
PUSH SREG
PUSH memory
PUSH immediate
REG: AX, BX, CX, DX, DI, SI, BP, SP.
SREG: DS, ES, SS, CS.
memory: [BX], [BX+SI+7], 16 bit variable, etc...
Syntax for POP instruction:
POP REG
POP SREG
POP memory
REG: AX, BX, CX, DX, DI, SI, BP, SP.
SREG: DS, ES, SS, (except CS).
memory: [BX], [BX+SI+7], 16 bit variable, etc...
Notes:
 PUSH and POP work with 16 bit values only!
 Note: PUSH immediate works only on 80186 CPU and later!
The stack uses LIFO (Last In First Out) algorithm,

this means that if we push these values one by one into the stack:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
the first value that we will get on pop will be 5, then 4, 3, 2, and only then 1.
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It is very important to do equal number of PUSHs and POPs, otherwise the stack maybe
corrupted and it will be impossible to return to operating system. As you already know
we use RET instruction to return to operating system, so when program starts there is a
return address in stack (generally it's 0000h).
PUSH and POP instruction are especially useful because we don't have too much
registers to operate with, so here is a trick:
 Store original value of the register in stack (using PUSH).
 Use the register for any purpose.

 Restore the original value of the register from stack (using POP).
Here is an example:
ORG 100h
MOV AX, 1234h

PUSH AX ; store value of AX in
stack.
MOV AX, 5678h ; modify the AX

value.
POP AX ; restore the original value

of AX.
RET
END
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Another use of the stack is for exchanging the values,
here is an example:
ORG 100h
MOV AX, 1212h ; store 1212h in AX.

MOV BX, 3434h ; store 3434h in BX
PUSH AX ; store value of AX in

stack.
PUSH BX ; store value of BX in
stack.
POP AX ; set AX to original value

of BX.
POP BX ; set BX to original value
of AX.
RET
END
The exchange happens because stack uses LIFO (Last In First Out) algorithm, so when
we push 1212h and then 3434h, on pop we will first get 3434h and only after it 1212h.
The stack memory area is set by SS (Stack Segment) register, and SP (Stack Pointer)
register. Generally operating system sets values of these registers on program start.
"PUSH source" instruction does the following:
 Subtract 2 from SP register.
 Write the value of source to the address SS:SP.
"POP destination" instruction does the following:
 Write the value at the address SS:SP to destination.
 Add 2 to SP register.
The current address pointed by SS:SP is called the top of the stack.
For COM files stack segment is generally the code segment, and stack pointer is set to
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value of 0FFFEh. At the address SS:0FFFEh stored a return address for RET
instruction that is executed in the end of the program.
You can visually see the stack operation by clicking on [Stack] button on emulator
window. The top of the stack is marked with "<" sign.
Macros
Macros are just like procedures, but not really. Macros look like procedures, but they
exist only until your code is compiled, after compilation all macros are replaced with real
instructions. If you declared a macro and never used it in your code, compiler will simply
ignore it. emu8086.inc is a good example of how macros can be used, this file contains
several macros to make coding easier for you.
Macro definition:
name MACRO [parameters,...]
<instructions>
ENDM
Unlike procedures, macros should be defined above the code that uses it, for example:
MyMacro MACRO p1, p2, p3
MOV AX, p1
MOV BX, p2
MOV CX, p3
ENDM
ORG 100h
MyMacro 1, 2, 3
MyMacro 4, 5, DX
RET
The above code is expanded into:
MOV AX, 00001h

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MOV BX, 00002h
MOV CX, 00003h
MOV AX, 00004h
MOV BX, 00005h
MOV CX, DX
Some important facts about macros and procedures:

 When you want to use a procedure you should use CALL instruction, for example:
CALL MyProc
 When you want to use a macro, you can just type its name. For example:
MyMacro
 Procedure is located at some specific address in memory, and if you use the same
procedure 100 times, the CPU will transfer control to this part of the memory. The
control will be returned back to the program by RET instruction. The stack is used
to keep the return address. The CALL instruction takes about 3 bytes, so the size
of the output executable file grows very insignificantly, no matter how many time
the procedure is used.
 Macro is expanded directly in program's code. So if you use the same macro 100
times, the compiler expands the macro 100 times, making the output executable
file larger and larger, each time all instructions of a macro are inserted.
 You should use stack or any general purpose registers to pass parameters to
procedure.
 To pass parameters to macro, you can just type them after the macro name. For
example:
MyMacro 1, 2, 3
 To mark the end of the macro ENDM directive is enough.
 To mark the end of the procedure, you should type the name of the procedure
before the ENDP directive.
Macros are expanded directly in code, therefore if there are labels inside the macro
definition you may get "Duplicate declaration" error when macro is used for twice or
more. To avoid such problem, use LOCAL directive followed by names of variables,
labels or procedure names. For example:
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MyMacro2 MACRO
LOCAL label1, label2
CMP AX, 2
JE label1
CMP AX, 3
JE label2
label1:
INC AX
label2:
ADD AX, 2
ENDM
ORG 100h
MyMacro2
MyMacro2
RET
If you plan to use your macros in several programs, it may be a good idea to place all
macros in a separate file. Place that file in Inc folder and use INCLUDE file-name
directive to use macros. See Library of common functions - emu8086.inc for an
example of such file.
Library of common functions - emu8086.inc
To make programming easier there are some common functions that can be included in
your program. To make your program use functions defined in other file you should use
the INCLUDE directive followed by a file name. Compiler automatically searches for
the file in the same folder where the source file is located, and if it cannot find the file
there - it searches in Inc folder.
Currently you may not be able to fully understand the contents of the emu8086.inc
(located in Inc folder), but it's OK, since you only need to understand what it can do.
To use any of the functions in emu8086.inc you should have the following line in the
beginning of your source file:
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emu8086.inc defines the following macros:
 PUTC char - macro with 1 parameter, prints out an ASCII char at current cursor
position.
 GOTOXY col, row - macro with 2 parameters, sets cursor position.

 PRINT string - macro with 1 parameter, prints out a string.
 PRINTN string - macro with 1 parameter, prints out a string. The same as PRINT
but automatically adds "carriage return" at the end of the string.
 CURSOROFF - turns off the text cursor.
 CURSORON - turns on the text cursor.
To use any of the above macros simply type its name somewhere in your code, and if
required parameters, for example:
include emu8086.inc
ORG 100h
PRINT 'Hello World!'
GOTOXY 10, 5
PUTC 65 ; 65 - is an ASCII code for

'A'
PUTC 'B'

compiler.
When compiler process your source code it searches the emu8086.inc file for
declarations of the macros and replaces the macro names with real code. Generally
macros are relatively small parts of code, frequent use of a macro may make your
executable too big (procedures are better for size optimization).
emu8086.inc also defines the following procedures:
 PRINT_STRING - procedure to print a null terminated string at current cursor

position, receives address of string in DS:SI register. To use it declare:
DEFINE_PRINT_STRING before END directive.
 PTHIS - procedure to print a null terminated string at current cursor position (just
as PRINT_STRING), but receives address of string from Stack. The ZERO
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TERMINATED string should be defined just after the CALL instruction. For
example:
CALL PTHIS
db 'Hello World!', 0
To use it declare: DEFINE_PTHIS before END directive.

 GET_STRING - procedure to get a null terminated string from a user, the
received string is written to buffer at DS:DI, buffer size should be in DX.
Procedure stops the input when 'Enter' is pressed. To use it declare:
DEFINE_GET_STRING before END directive.
 CLEAR_SCREEN - procedure to clear the screen, (done by scrolling entire
screen window), and set cursor position to top of it. To use it declare:
DEFINE_CLEAR_SCREEN before END directive.
 SCAN_NUM - procedure that gets the multi-digit SIGNED number from the
keyboard, and stores the result in CX register. To use it declare:
DEFINE_SCAN_NUM before END directive.
 PRINT_NUM - procedure that prints a signed number in AX register. To use it
declare: DEFINE_PRINT_NUM and DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS before
END directive.
 PRINT_NUM_UNS - procedure that prints out an unsigned number in AX
register. To use it declare: DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS before END directive.
To use any of the above procedures you should first declare the function in the bottom of
your file (but before the END directive), and then use CALL instruction followed by a
procedure name. For example:
ORG 100h
LEA SI, msg1 ; ask for the number

CALL print_string ;
CALL scan_num ; get number in CX.
MOV AX, CX ; copy the number to

AX.
; print the following string:

CALL pthis
DB 13, 10, 'You have entered: ', 0
CALL print_num ; print number in

AX.

system.
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msg1 DB 'Enter the number: ', 0
DEFINE_SCAN_NUM
DEFINE_PRINT_STRING
DEFINE_PRINT_NUM
DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS ; required
for print_num.
DEFINE_PTHIS

compiler.
First compiler processes the declarations (these are just regular the macros that are
expanded to procedures). When compiler gets to CALL instruction it replaces the
procedure name with the address of the code where the procedure is declared. When
CALL instruction is executed control is transferred to procedure. This is quite useful,
since even if you call the same procedure 100 times in your code you will still have
relatively small executable size. Seems complicated, isn't it? That's ok, with the time you
will learn more, currently it's required that you understand the basic principle.
making your own operating system
Usually, when a computer starts it will try to load the first 512-byte sector (that's Cylinder
0, Head 0, Sector 1) from any diskette in your A: drive to memory location 0000h:7C00h
and give it control. If this fails, the BIOS tries to use the MBR of the first hard drive
instead.
This tutorial covers booting up from a floppy drive, the same principles are used to boot
from a hard drive. But using a floppy drive has several advantages:
 you can keep your existing operating system intact (windows, dos, linux, unix, be-
os...).
 it is easy and safe to modify the boot record of a floppy disk.
example of a simple floppy disk boot program:
; directive to create BOOT file:

#make_boot#
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; Boot record is loaded at 0000:7C00,
; so inform compiler to make required
; corrections:
ORG 7C00h
PUSH CS ; make sure DS=CS

POP DS
; load message address into SI register:

LEA SI, msg
; teletype function id:

MOV AH, 0Eh
print: MOV AL, [SI]

CMP AL, 0
JZ done
INT 10h ; print using teletype.
INC SI
JMP print
; wait for 'any key':

done: MOV AH, 0
INT 16h
; store magic value at 0040h:0072h:

; 0000h - cold boot.
; 1234h - warm boot.
MOV AX, 0040h
MOV DS, AX
MOV w.[0072h], 0000h ; cold boot.
JMP 0FFFFh:0000h ; reboot!
new_line EQU 13, 10
msg DB 'Hello This is My First Boot Program!'

DB new_line, 'Press any key to reboot', 0
copy the above example to the source editor and press emulate. the emulator
automatically loads .bin file to 0000h:7C00h (it uses supplementary .binf file to know
where to load).
you can run it just like a regular program, or you can use the virtual drive menu to write
512 bytes at 7c00h to boot sector of a virtual floppy drive (it's "FLOPPY_0" file in
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Emulator's folder). after your program is written to the virtual floppy drive, you can
select boot from floppy from virtual drive menu.
.bin files for boot records are limited to 512 bytes (sector size). if your new operating
system is going to grow over this size, you will need to use a boot program to load data
from other sectors (just like micro-os_loader.asm does). an example of a tiny operating
system can be found in c:\emu8086\examples:
micro-os_loader.asm
micro-os_kernel.asm
To create extensions for your operating system (over 512 bytes), you can use additional
sectors of a floppy disk. It's recommended to use ".bin" files for this purpose (to create
".bin" file select "BIN Template" from "File" -> "New" menu).
To write ".bin" file to virtual floppy, select "Write .bin file to floppy..." from "Virtual
drive" menu of emulator, you should write it anywhere but the boot sector (which is
Cylinder: 0, Head: 0, Sector: 1).
Page 72 of 161
you can use this utility to write .bin files to virtual floppy disk ("FLOPPY_0" file),
instead of "write 512 bytes at 7c00h to boot sector" menu. however, you should
remember that .bin file that is designed to be a boot record should always be written to
cylinder: 0, head: 0, sector: 1
Page 73 of 161
Boot Sector Location:
Cylinder: 0
Head: 0
Sector: 1
to write .bin files to real floppy disk use writebin.asm, just compile it to com file and run
it from command prompt. to write a boot record type: writebin loader.bin ; to write
kernel module type: writebin kernel.bin /k
/k - parameter tells the program to write the file at sector 2 instead of sector 1. it does not
matter in what order you write the files onto floppy drive, but it does matter where you
write them.
mote: this boot record is not MS-DOS/Windows compatible boot sector, it's not even
Linux or Unix compatible, operating system may not allow you to read or write files on
this diskette until you re-format it, therefore make sure the diskette you use doesn't
contain any important information. however you can write and read anything to and from
this disk using low level disk access interrupts, it's even possible to protect valuable
information from the others this way; even if someone gets the disk he will probably
think that it's empty and will reformat it because it's the default option in windows
operating system... such a good type of self destructing data carrier :)
idealized floppy drive and diskette structure:
for a 1440 kb diskette:
Page 74 of 161
 floppy disk has 2 sides, and there are 2 heads; one for each side (0..1), the drive
heads move above the surface of the disk on each side.
 each side has 80 cylinders (numbered 0..79).

 each cylinder has 18 sectors (1..18).
 each sector has 512 bytes.
 total size of floppy disk is: 2 x 80 x 18 x 512 = 1,474,560 bytes.
note: the MS-DOS (windows) formatted floppy disk has slightly less free space on it (by
about 16,896 bytes) because the operating system needs place to store file names and
directory structure (often called FAT or file system allocation table). more file names -
less disk space. the most efficient way to store files is to write them directly to sectors
instead of using file system, and in some cases it is also the most reliable way, if you
know how to use it.
to read sectors from floppy drive use INT 13h / AH = 02h.
The list of all interrupts that are currently supported by the emulator.
These interrupts should be compatible will IBM PC and all generations of x86, original
Intel 8086 and AMD compatible microprocessors, however Windows XP may overwrite
some of the original interrupts.
Quick reference:
INT 21h
INT 21h/01h
INT 10h/01h INT 10h/1003h INT 21h/39h
INT 21h/02h
INT 10h/02h INT 11h INT 21h/3Ah
INT 21h/05h
INT 10h/03h INT 12h INT 21h/3Bh
INT 21h/06h
INT 10h/05h INT 13h/00h INT 21h/3Ch
INT 21h/07h
INT 10h/06h INT 13h/02h INT 21h/3Dh INT 33h/0000h
INT 21h/09h
INT 10h/07h INT 13h/03h INT 21h/3Eh INT 33h/0001h
INT 21h/0Ah
INT 10h/08h INT 15h/86h INT 21h/3Fh INT 33h/0002h
INT 21h/0Bh
INT 10h/09h INT 16h/00h INT 21h/40h INT 33h/0003h
INT 21h/0Ch
INT 10h/0Ah INT 16h/01h INT 21h/41h
INT 21h/0Eh
INT 10h/0Ch INT 19h INT 21h/42h
INT 21h/19h
INT 10h/0Dh INT 1Ah/00h INT 21h/47h
INT 21h/25h
INT 10h/0Eh INT 20h INT 21h/4Ch
INT 21h/2Ah
INT 21h/2Ch
the short list of supported interrupts with descriptions:
INT 10h / AH = 0 - set video mode.
Page 75 of 161
input:
AL = desired video mode.
these video modes are supported:
13h - graphical mode. 40x25. 256 colors. 320x200 pixels. 1 page.
example:
mov al, 13h

mov ah, 0
int 10h
INT 10h / AH = 01h - set text-mode cursor shape.
input:
CH = cursor start line (bits 0-4) and options (bits 5-7).
CL = bottom cursor line (bits 0-4).
when bit 5 of CH is set to 0, the cursor is visible. when bit 5 is 1, the

cursor is not visible.
; hide blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 32
mov ah, 1
int 10h
; show standard blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 6
mov cl, 7
mov ah, 1
int 10h
; show box-shaped blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 0
mov cl, 7
mov ah, 1
int 10h
; note: some bioses required CL to be >=7,

; otherwise wrong cursor shapes are displayed.
INT 10h / AH = 2 - set cursor position.

Page 76 of 161
input:
DH = row.
DL = column.
BH = page number (0..7).
example:
mov dh, 10
mov dl, 20
mov bh, 0
mov ah, 2
int 10h
INT 10h / AH = 03h - get cursor position and size.
input:
BH = page number.
return:
DH = row.
DL = column.
CH = cursor start line.
CL = cursor bottom line.
INT 10h / AH = 05h - select active video page.
input:
AL = new page number (0..7).
the activated page is displayed.
INT 10h / AH = 06h - scroll up window.

INT 10h / AH = 07h - scroll down window.
input:
AL = number of lines by which to scroll (00h = clear entire window).
BH = attribute used to write blank lines at bottom of window.
CH, CL = row, column of window's upper left corner.
DH, DL = row, column of window's lower right corner.
INT 10h / AH = 08h - read character and attribute at cursor position.
input:
BH = page number.
return:
Page 77 of 161
AH = attribute.
AL = character.
INT 10h / AH = 09h - write character and attribute at cursor position.
input:
BH = page number.
BL = attribute.
INT 10h / AH = 0Ah - write character only at cursor position.
input:
BH = page number.
INT 10h / AH = 0Ch - change color for a single pixel.
input:
AL = pixel color
CX = column.
DX = row.
example:
mov al, 13h

mov ah, 0
int 10h ; set graphics video mode.
mov al, 1100b
mov cx, 10
mov dx, 20
mov ah, 0ch
int 10h ; set pixel.
INT 10h / AH = 0Dh - get color of a single pixel.
input:
CX = column.
DX = row.
output:
AL = pixel color
Page 78 of 161
INT 10h / AH = 0Eh - teletype output.
input:
AL = character to write.
this functions displays a character on the screen, advancing the cursor and scrolling the
screen as necessary. the printing is always done to current active page.
example:
mov al, 'a'

mov ah, 0eh
int 10h
; note: on specific systems this

; function may not be supported in graphics mode.
INT 10h / AH = 13h - write string.
input:
AL = write mode:
bit 0: update cursor after writing;
bit 1: string contains attributes.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute if string contains only characters (bit 1 of AL is zero).
CX = number of characters in string (attributes are not counted).
DL,DH = column, row at which to start writing.
ES:BP points to string to be printed.
example:
mov al, 1
mov bh, 0
mov bl, 0011_1011b
mov cx, msg1end - offset msg1 ; calculate message size.
mov dl, 10
mov dh, 7
push cs
pop es
mov bp, offset msg1
mov ah, 13h
int 10h
jmp msg1end
msg1 db " hello, world! "
msg1end:
Page 79 of 161
INT 10h / AX = 1003h - toggle intensity/blinking.
input:
BL = write mode:
0: enable intensive colors.
1: enable blinking (not supported by the emulator and windows
command prompt).
BH = 0 (to avoid problems on some adapters).
example:
mov ax, 1003h

mov bx, 0
int 10h
bit color table:

character attribute is 8 bit value, low 4 bits set fore color, high 4 bits set background
color.
note: the emulator and windows command line prompt do not support background
blinking, however to make colors look the same in dos and in full screen mode it is
required to turn off the background blinking.
HEX BIN COLOR
0 0000 black
1 0001 blue
2 0010 green
3 0011 cyan
4 0100 red
5 0101 magenta
6 0110 brown
7 0111 light gray
8 1000 dark gray
9 1001 light blue
A 1010 light green
B 1011 light cyan
C 1100 light red
D 1101 light magenta
E 1110 yellow
F 1111 white
note:
; use this code for compatibility with dos/cmd prompt full screen mode:
mov ax, 1003h
mov bx, 0 ; disable blinking.
int 10h
Page 80 of 161
INT 11h - get BIOS equipment list.
return:
AX = BIOS equipment list word, actually this call returns the contents of
the word at 0040h:0010h.
Currently this function can be used to determine the number of installed

number of floppy disk drives.
Bit fields for BIOS-detected installed hardware:

Bit(s) Description
15-14 number of parallel devices.
13 not supported.
12 game port installed.
11-9 number of serial devices.
8 reserved.
7-6 number of floppy disk drives (minus 1):
00 single floppy disk;
01 two floppy disks;
10 three floppy disks;
11 four floppy disks.
5-4 initial video mode:
00 EGA,VGA,PGA, or other with on-board video BIOS;
01 40x25 CGA color;
10 80x25 CGA color (emulator default);
11 80x25 mono text.
3 not supported.
2 not supported.
1 math coprocessor installed.
0 set when booted from floppy (always set by the emulator).
INT 12h - get memory size.
return:
AX = kilobytes of contiguous memory starting at absolute address
00000h, this call returns the contents of the word at 0040h:0013h.
Floppy drives are emulated using FLOPPY_0(..3) files.
INT 13h / AH = 00h - reset disk system, (currently this call doesn't do anything).
Page 81 of 161
INT 13h / AH = 02h - read disk sectors into memory.
INT 13h / AH = 03h - write disk sectors.
input:
AL = number of sectors to read/write (must be nonzero)

CH = cylinder number (0..79).
CL = sector number (1..18).
DH = head number (0..1).
DL = drive number (0..3 , for the emulator it depends on
quantity of FLOPPY_ files).
ES:BX points to data buffer.
return:
CF set on error.
AH = status (0 - if successful).
AL = number of sectors transferred.
Note: each sector has 512 bytes.
INT 15h / AH = 86h - BIOS wait function.
input:
CX:DX = interval in microseconds
return:
CF clear if successful (wait interval elapsed),

CF set on error or when wait function is already in
progress.
Note:
the resolution of the wait period is 977 microseconds on

many systems (1 million microseconds - 1 second).
Windows XP does not support this interrupt (always sets
CF=1).
Page 82 of 161
INT 16h / AH = 00h - get keystroke from keyboard (no echo).
return:

(if a keystroke is present, it is removed from the keyboard
buffer).
INT 16h / AH = 01h - check for keystroke in the keyboard buffer.
return:
ZF = 1 if keystroke is not available.

ZF = 0 if keystroke available.
(if a keystroke is present, it is not removed from the
keyboard buffer).
INT 19h - system reboot.
Usually, the BIOS will try to read sector 1, head 0, track 0 from drive A:
to 0000h:7C00h. The emulator just stops the execution, to boot from
floppy drive select from the menu: 'virtual drive' -> 'boot from floppy'
INT 1Ah / AH = 00h - get system time.
return:
CX:DX = number of clock ticks since midnight.

AL = midnight counter, advanced each time midnight
passes.
notes:
there are approximately 18.20648 clock ticks per second,
Page 83 of 161
and 1800B0h per 24 hours.
AL is not set by the emulator.
INT 20h - exit to operating system.
The short list of emulated MS-DOS interrupts -- INT 21h
DOS file system is emulated in C:\emu8086\vdrive\x (x is a drive letter)
If no drive letter is specified and current directory is not set, then C:\emu8086\MyBuild\
path is used by default. FLOPPY_0,1,2,3 files are emulated independently from DOS
file system.
For the emulator physical drive A: is this file c:\emu8086\FLOPPY_0 (for BIOS
interrupts: INT 13h and boot).
For DOS interrupts (INT 21h) drive A: is emulated in this subdirectory:

C:\emu8086\vdrive\a\
Note: DOS file system limits the file and directory names to 8 characters, extension is
limited to 3 characters;
example of a valid file name: myfile.txt (file name = 6 chars, extension - 3 chars).
extension is written after the dot, no other dots are allowed.
INT 21h / AH=1 - read character from standard input, with echo, result is stored in AL.
example:
mov ah, 1
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=2 - write character to standard output.

entry: DL = character to write, after execution AL = DL.
example:
mov ah, 2
Page 84 of 161
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=5 - output character to printer.

entry: DL = character to print, after execution AL = DL.
example:
mov ah, 5
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h
INT 21h / AH=6 - direct console input or output.
parameters for output: DL = 0..254 (ascii code)

parameters for input: DL = 255
for output returns: AL = DL

for input returns: ZF set if no character available and AL = 00h, ZF clear if character
available.
AL = character read; buffer is cleared.
example:
mov ah, 6
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h ; output character.
mov ah, 6
mov dl, 255
int 21h ; get character from keyboard buffer (if any) or set ZF=1.
INT 21h / AH=7 - character input without echo to AL.

example:
mov ah, 7
int 21h
Page 85 of 161
INT 21h / AH=9 - output of a string at DS:DX. String must be terminated by '$'.
example:
org 100h
mov dx, offset msg
mov ah, 9
int 21h
ret
msg db "hello world $"
INT 21h / AH=0Ah - input of a string to DS:DX, fist byte is buffer size, second byte is
number of chars actually read. this function does not add '$' in the end of string. to print
using INT 21h / AH=9 you must set dollar character at the end of it and start printing
from address DS:DX + 2.
example:
org 100h
mov ah, 0ah
int 21h
jmp print
buffer db 10,?, 10 dup(' ')
print:
xor bx, bx
mov bl, buffer[1]
mov buffer[bx+2], '$'
mov dx, offset buffer + 2
mov ah, 9
int 21h
ret
the function does not allow to enter more characters than the specified buffer size.
see also int21.asm in c:\emu8086\examples
INT 21h / AH=0Bh - get input status;

returns: AL = 00h if no character available, AL = 0FFh if character is available.
Page 86 of 161
INT 21h / AH=0Ch - flush keyboard buffer and read standard input.
entry: AL = number of input function to execute after flushing buffer (can be
01h,06h,07h,08h, or 0Ah - for other values the buffer is flushed but no input is
attempted); other registers as appropriate for the selected input function.
INT 21h / AH= 0Eh - select default drive.
Entry: DL = new default drive (0=A:, 1=B:, etc)
Return: AL = number of potentially valid drive letters
Notes: the return value is the highest drive present.
INT 21h / AH= 19h - get current default drive.
Return: AL = drive (0=A:, 1=B:, etc)
INT 21h / AH=25h - set interrupt vector;

input: AL = interrupt number. DS:DX -> new interrupt handler.
INT 21h / AH=2Ah - get system date;

return: CX = year (1980-2099). DH = month. DL = day. AL = day of week
(00h=Sunday)
INT 21h / AH=2Ch - get system time;

Page 87 of 161
return: CH = hour. CL = minute. DH = second. DL = 1/100 seconds.
INT 21h / AH=35h - get interrupt vector;

entry: AL = interrupt number;
return: ES:BX -> current interrupt handler.
INT 21h / AH= 39h - make directory.

entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname; zero terminated string, for example:
org 100h
mov dx, offset filepath
mov ah, 39h
int 21h
ret
filepath DB "C:\mydir", 0 ; path to be created.

end
the above code creates c:\emu8086\vdrive\C\mydir directory if run by the emulator.
Return: CF clear if successful AX destroyed. CF set on error AX = error code.

Note: all directories in the given path must exist except the last one.
INT 21h / AH= 3Ah - remove directory.
Entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname of directory to be removed.
Return:
CF is clear if successful, AX destroyed CF is set on error AX = error code.
Notes: directory must be empty (there should be no files inside of it).
Page 88 of 161
INT 21h / AH= 3Bh - set current directory.
Entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname to become current directory (max 64 bytes).
Return:
Carry Flag is clear if successful, AX destroyed.

Carry Flag is set on error AX = error code.
Notes: even if new directory name includes a drive letter, the default drive is not changed,
only the current directory on that drive.
INT 21h / AH= 3Ch - create or truncate file.
entry:
CX = file attributes:
mov cx, 0 ; normal - no attributes.

mov cx, 1 ; read-only.
mov cx, 2 ; hidden.
mov cx, 4 ; system
mov cx, 7 ; hidden, system and read-only!
mov cx, 16 ; archive
returns:

note: if specified file exists it is deleted without a warning.
example:
org 100h
mov ah, 3ch
mov cx, 0
mov ah, 3ch
int 21h
jc err
mov handle, ax
jmp k
handle dw ?
err:
Page 89 of 161
; ....
k:
ret
INT 21h / AH= 3Dh - open existing file.
Entry:
AL = access and sharing modes:
mov al, 0 ; read

mov al, 1 ; write
mov al, 2 ; read/write
Return:

note 1: file pointer is set to start of file.

note 2: file must exist.
example:
org 100h
mov al, 2
mov ah, 3dh
int 21h
jc err
mov handle, ax
jmp k
handle dw ?
err:
; ....
k:
ret
Page 90 of 161
INT 21h / AH= 3Eh - close file.
Entry: BX = file handle
Return:
CF clear if successful, AX destroyed.

CF set on error, AX = error code (06h).
INT 21h / AH= 3Fh - read from file.
Entry:
BX = file handle.
CX = number of bytes to read.
DS:DX -> buffer for data.
Return:
CF is clear if successful - AX = number of bytes actually read; 0 if at EOF (end of file)

before call.
CF is set on error AX = error code.
Note: data is read beginning at current file position, and the file position is updated after a
successful read the returned AX may be smaller than the request in CX if a partial read
occurred.
INT 21h / AH= 40h - write to file.
entry:
BX = file handle.
CX = number of bytes to write.
DS:DX -> data to write.
return:
CF clear if successful; AX = number of bytes actually written.

CF set on error; AX = error code.
note: if CX is zero, no data is written, and the file is truncated or extended to the current
position data is written beginning at the current file position, and the file position is
Page 91 of 161
updated after a successful write the usual cause for AX < CX on return is a full disk.
INT 21h / AH= 41h - delete file (unlink).
Entry:
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename (no wildcards, but see notes).
return:
CF clear if successful, AX destroyed. AL is the drive of deleted file (undocumented).

Note: DOS does not erase the file's data; it merely becomes inaccessible because the FAT
chain for the file is cleared deleting a file which is currently open may lead to filesystem
corruption.
INT 21h / AH= 42h - SEEK - set current file position.
Entry:
AL = origin of move: 0 - start of file. 1 - current file position. 2 - end of file.

BX = file handle.
CX:DX = offset from origin of new file position.
Return:
CF clear if successful, DX:AX = new file position in bytes from start of file.
Notes:
for origins 1 and 2, the pointer may be positioned before the start of the file; no error is
returned in that case, but subsequent attempts to read or write the file will produce errors.
If the new position is beyond the current end of file, the file will be extended by the next
write (see AH=40h).
example:
org 100h
mov ah, 3ch
mov cx, 0
Page 92 of 161
mov ah, 3ch
int 21h ; create file...
mov handle, ax
mov bx, handle

mov dx, offset data
mov cx, data_size
mov ah, 40h
int 21h ; write to file...
mov al, 0
mov bx, handle
mov cx, 0
mov dx, 7
mov ah, 42h
int 21h ; seek...
mov bx, handle

mov cx, 4
mov ah, 3fh
int 21h ; read from file...
mov bx, handle

mov ah, 3eh
int 21h ; close file...
ret
handle dw ?
data db " hello files! "
data_size=$-offset data
buffer db 4 dup(' ')
INT 21h / AH= 47h - get current directory.
Entry:
DL = drive number (00h = default, 01h = A:, etc)

DS:SI -> 64-byte buffer for ASCIZ pathname.
Return:
Carry is clear if successful

Carry is set on error, AX = error code (0Fh)
Page 93 of 161
Notes:
the returned path does not include a drive and the initial backslash.
INT 21h / AH=4Ch - return control to the operating system (stop program).
INT 21h / AH= 56h - rename file / move file.
Entry:
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename of existing file.

ES:DI -> ASCIZ new filename.
Return:
Note: allows move between directories on same logical drive only; open files should not
be renamed!
mouse driver interrupts -- INT 33h
INT 33h / AX=0000 - mouse ininialization. any previous mouse pointer is hidden.
returns:
if successful: AX=0FFFFh and BX=number of mouse buttons.

if failed: AX=0
example:
mov ax, 0
int 33h
Page 94 of 161
see also: mouse.asm in examples.
INT 33h / AX=0001 - show mouse pointer.
example:
mov ax, 1
int 33h
INT 33h / AX=0002 - hide visible mouse pointer.
example:
mov ax, 2
int 33h
INT 33h / AX=0003 - get mouse position and status of its buttons.
returns:
if left button is down: BX=1

if right button is down: BX=2
if both buttons are down: BX=3
CX = x
DX = y
example:
mov ax, 3
int 33h
; note: in graphical 320x200 mode the value of CX is doubled.

; see mouse2.asm in examples.
Click here to view the list of frequently asked questions.

Page 95 of 161
Controlling External Devices
There are 7 devices attached to the emulator: traffic lights, stepper-motor, LED display,
thermometer, printer, robot and simple test device. You can view devices when you click
"Virtual Devices" menu of the emulator.
For technical information see I/O ports section of emu8086 reference.
In general, it is possible to use any x86 family CPU to control all kind of devices, the
difference maybe in base I/O port number, this can be altered using some tricky
electronic equipment. Usually the ".bin" file is written into the Read Only Memory
(ROM) chip, the system reads program from that chip, loads it in RAM module and runs
the program. This principle is used for many modern devices such as micro-wave ovens
and etc...
Traffic Lights
Usually to control the traffic lights an array (table) of values is used. In certain periods of
time the value is read from the array and sent to a port. For example:
; controlling external device with 8086 microprocessor.

Page 96 of 161
; realistic test for c:\emu8086\devices\Traffic_Lights.exe
#start=Traffic_Lights.exe#
name "traffic"
mov ax, all_red

out 4, ax
mov si, offset situation
next:
mov ax, [si]
out 4, ax
; wait 5 seconds (5 million microseconds)

mov cx, 4Ch ; 004C4B40h = 5,000,000
mov dx, 4B40h
mov ah, 86h
int 15h
add si, 2 ; next situation

cmp si, sit_end
jb next
mov si, offset situation
jmp next
; FEDC_BA98_7654_3210
situation dw 0000_0011_0000_1100b
s1 dw 0000_0110_1001_1010b
s2 dw 0000_1000_0110_0001b
s3 dw 0000_1000_0110_0001b
s4 dw 0000_0100_1101_0011b
sit_end = $
all_red equ 0000_0010_0100_1001b
Stepper-Motor
Page 97 of 161
The motor can be half stepped by turning on pair of magnets, followed by a single and so
on.
The motor can be full stepped by turning on pair of magnets, followed by another pair of
magnets and in the end followed by a single magnet and so on. The best way to make full
step is to make two half steps.
Half step is equal to 11.25 degrees.

Full step is equal to 22.5 degrees.
The motor can be turned both clock-wise and counter-clock-wise.
open stepper_motor.asm from c:\emu8086\examples
See also I/O ports section of emu8086 reference.
Robot
Page 98 of 161
Complete list of robot instruction set is given in I/O ports section of emu8086 reference.
To control the robot a complex algorithm should be used to achieve maximum efficiency.
The simplest, yet very inefficient, is random moving algorithm, open robot.asm from
c:\emu8086\examples
It is also possible to use a data table (just like for Traffic Lights), this can be good if robot
always works in the same surroundings.
I/O ports and Hardware Interrupts
The emulator does not reproduce any input/output devices of the

original IBM PC ®, however theoretically it may be possible to create
emulation of the original ibm pc devices. emu8086 supports user-
created virtual devices that can be accessed from assembly language
program using in and out instructions. devices that can be created by
anyone with basic programming experience in any high or low level
programming language. the simplest virtual device in assembly
language can be found in examples: simplest.asm
Input / Output ports
emu8086 supports additional devices that can be created by anyone

with basic programming experience in any language device can be
written in any language, such as: java, visual basic, vc++, delphi,
c#, .net or in any other programming language that allow to directly
Page 99 of 161
read and write files. for more information and sample source code look
inside this folder: c:\emu8086\DEVICES\DEVELOPER\
The latest version of the emulator has no reserved or fixed I/O ports,
input / output addresses for custom devices are from 0000 to 0FFFFh
(0 to 65535), but it is important that two devices that use the same
ports do not run simultaneously to avoid hardware conflict.
Port 100 corresponds to byte 100 in this file: c:\emu8086.io , port 0

to byte 0, port 101 to byte 101, etc...
Emulation of Hardware Interrupts
External hardware interrupts can be triggered by external peripheral

devices and microcontrollers or by the 8087 mathematical
coprocessor.
Hardware interrupts are disabled when interrupt flag (IF) is set to 0.

when interrupt flag is set to 1, the emulator continually checks first
256 bytes of this file c:\emu8086.hw if any of the bytes is none-zero
the microprocessor transfers control to an interrupt handler that
matches the triggering byte offset in emu8086.hw file (0 to 255)
according to the interrupt vector table (memory 0000-0400h) and
resets the byte in emu8086.hw to 00.
These instructions can be used to disable and enable hardware

interrupts:
cli - clear interrupt flag (disable hardware interrupts).

sti - set interrupt flag (enable hardware interrupts).
by default hardware interrupts are enabled and are disabled

automatically when software or hardware interrupt is in the middle of
the execution.
Examples of Custom I/O Devices
Ready devices are available from virtual devices menu of the

emulator.
 Traffic Lights - port 4 (word)
the traffic lights are controlled by sending data to i/o port 4.

there are 12 lamps: 4 green, 4 yellow, and 4 red.
Page 100 of 161
you can set the state of each lamp by setting its bit:
1 - the lamp is turned on.

0 - the lamp is turned off.
only 12 low bits of a word are used (0 to 11), last bits (12 to 15)
are unused.
for example:
MOV AX, 0000001011110100b

OUT 4, AX
we use yellow hexadecimal digits in caption (to achieve compact

view), here's a conversion:
 Hex - Decimal

 A - 10
 B - 11
 C - 12 (unused)
 D - 13 (unused)
 E - 14 (unused)
F - 15 (unused)
first operand for OUT instruction is a port number (4), second

operand is a word (AX) that is written to the port. first operand
must be an immediate byte value (0..255) or DX register.
second operand must be AX or AL only.
see also traffic_lights.asm in c:\emu8086\examples.
Page 101 of 161

if required you can read the data from port using IN instruction,
for example:
IN AX, 4
first operand of IN instruction (AX) receives the value from port,

second operand (4) is a port number. first operand must be AX
or AL only. second operand must be an immediate byte value
(0..255) or DX register.
 Stepper Motor - port 7 (byte)
the stepper motor is controlled by sending data to i/o port 7.
stepper motor is electric motor that can be precisely controlled

by signals from a computer.
the motor turns through a precise angle each time it receives a

signal.
by varying the rate at which signal pulses are produced, the

motor can be run at different speeds or turned through an exact
angle and then stopped.
This is a basic 3-phase stepper motor, it has 3 magnets

controlled by bits 0, 1 and 2. other bits (3..7) are unused.
When magnet is working it becomes red. The arrow in the left

upper corner shows the direction of the last motor move. Green
line is here just to see that it is really rotating.
Page 102 of 161

For example, the code below will do three clock-wise half-steps:
MOV AL, 001b ; initialize.

OUT 7, AL
MOV AL, 011b ; half step 1.

OUT 7, AL

OUT 7, AL

OUT 7, AL
If you ever played with magnets you will understand how it

works. try experimenting, or see stepper_motor.asm in
c:\emu8086\examples.
If required you can read the data from port using IN instruction,
for example:
IN AL, 7
Stepper motor sets topmost bit of byte value in port 7 when it's
ready.
 Robot - port 9 (3 bytes)
Page 103 of 161

The robot is controlled by sending data to i/o port 9.
The first byte (port 9) is a command register. set values to this port
to make robot do something. supported values:
decimal binary
action
value value
0 00000000 do nothing.
1 00000001 move forward.
2 00000010 turn left.
3 00000011 turn right.
examine. examines an object in front using sensor. when

4 00000100 robot completes the task, result is set to data register
and bit #0 of status register is set to 1.
5 00000101 switch on a lamp.
6 00000110 switch off a lamp.


The second byte (port 10) is a data register. this register is set
after robot completes the examine command:
Page 104 of 161

decimal value binary value meaning
255 11111111 wall
0 00000000 nothing
7 00000111 switched-on lamp
8 00001000 switched-off lamp


The third byte (port 11) is a status register. read values from
this port to determine the state of the robot. each bit has a
specific property:
bit
description
number
zero when there is no new data in data register, one when there is new
bit #0
data in data register.
zero when robot is ready for next command, one when robot is busy
bit #1
doing some task.
zero when there is no error on last command execution, one when there
bit #2 is an error on command execution (when robot cannot complete the
task: move, turn, examine, switch on/off lamp).

example:

 MOV AL, 1 ; move forward.
 OUT 9, AL ;

 MOV AL, 3 ; turn right.
 OUT 9, AL ;

 OUT 9, AL ;

 MOV AL, 2 ; turn left.
 OUT 9, AL ;

 OUT 9, AL ;

keep in mind that robot is a mechanical creature and it takes
some time for it to complete a task. you should always check
bit#1 of status register before sending data to port 9,
Page 105 of 161

otherwise the robot will reject your command and "busy!" will
be shown. see robot.asm in c:\emu8086\examples.


Creating Custom Robo-World Map
It is possible to change the default map for the robot using the
tool box.
if you click the robot button and place robot over existing robot it
will turn 90 degrees counter-clock-wise. to manually move the
robot just place it anywhere else on the map.
If you click lamp button and click switched-on lamp the lamp will
be switched-off, if lamp is already switched-off it will be deleted.
click over empty space will create a new switched-on lamp.
Placing wall over existing wall deletes the wall.
Current version is limited to a single robot only. if you forget to

place a robot on the map it will be placed in some random
coordinates.
When robot device is closed the map is automatically saved

inside this file: c:\emu8086\devices\robot_map.dat
It is possible to have several maps by renaming and coping this
file before starting the robot device.
The right-click over the map brings up a popup menu that allows
to switch-on or switch-off all the lamps at once.

For a list of frequently asked questions click here.
Complete 8086 instruction set
Quick reference:
AAA CMPSB JAE JNBE JPO MOV RCR SCASB

AAD CMPSW JB JNC JS MOVSB REP SCASW
AAM CWD JBE JNE JZ MOVSW REPE SHL
AAS DAA JC JNG LAHF MUL REPNE SHR
Page 106 of 161
DAS NEG
ADC DEC JCXZ JNGE LDS NOP REPNZ STC
ADD DIV JE JNL LEA NOT REPZ STD
AND HLT JG JNLE LES OR RET STI
CALL IDIV JGE JNO LODSB OUT RETF STOSB
CBW IMUL JL JNP LODSW POP ROL STOSW
CLC IN JLE JNS LOOP POPA ROR SUB
CLD INC JMP JNZ LOOPE POPF SAHF TEST
CLI INT JNA JO LOOPNE PUSH SAL XCHG
CMC INTO JNAE JP LOOPNZ PUSHA SAR XLATB
CMP IRET JNB JPE LOOPZ PUSHF SBB XOR
JA RCL
Operand types:
SREG: DS, ES, SS, and only as second operand: CS.
memory: [BX], [BX+SI+7], variable, etc...(see Memory Access).
Notes:
 When two operands are required for an instruction they are separated by comma.
For example:
REG, memory
 When there are two operands, both operands must have the same size (except shift
and rotate instructions). For example:
AL, DL
DX, AX
m1 DB ?
AL, m1
m2 DW ?
AX, m2
 Some instructions allow several operand combinations. For example:
memory, immediate
REG, immediate
memory, REG
REG, SREG
Page 107 of 161

 Some examples contain macros, so it is advisable to use Shift + F8 hot key to
Step Over (to make macro code execute at maximum speed set step delay to
zero), otherwise emulator will step through each instruction of a macro. Here is an
example that uses PRINTN macro:

 include 'emu8086.inc'
 ORG 100h
 MOV AL, 1
 MOV BL, 2
 PRINTN 'Hello World!' ; macro.
 MOV CL, 3
 PRINTN 'Welcome!' ; macro.
RET
These marks are used to show the state of the flags:
1 - instruction sets this flag to 1.

0 - instruction sets this flag to 0.
r - flag value depends on result of the instruction.
? - flag value is undefined (maybe 1 or 0).
Some instructions generate exactly the same machine code, so disassembler may
have a problem decoding to your original code. This is especially important for
Conditional Jump instructions (see "Program Flow Control" in Tutorials for more
information).
Instructions in alphabetical order:
Instruction Operands Description
ASCII Adjust after Addition.

Corrects result in AH and AL after addition when working
with BCD values.
AAA No operands
It works according to the following Algorithm:
if low nibble of AL > 9 or AF = 1 then:

 AL = AL + 6
Page 108 of 161

 AH = AH + 1
 AF = 1
 CF = 1
else
 AF = 0
 CF = 0
in both cases:
clear the high nibble of AL.
Example:
MOV AX, 15 ; AH = 00, AL = 0Fh
AAA ; AH = 01, AL = 05
RET
C ZSOPA
r ? ? ? ? r
ASCII Adjust before Division.

Prepares two BCD values for division.
Algorithm:
 AL = (AH * 10) + AL
 AH = 0
AAD No operands
Example:
MOV AX, 0105h ; AH = 01, AL = 05
AAD ; AH = 00, AL = 0Fh (15)
RET
C ZSOPA
? r r ? r ?
AAM No operands ASCII Adjust after Multiplication.

Corrects the result of multiplication of two BCD values.
Algorithm:
 AH = AL / 10
 AL = remainder
Example:
Page 109 of 161

MOV AL, 15 ; AL = 0Fh
AAM ; AH = 01, AL = 05
RET
C ZSOPA
? r r ? r ?
ASCII Adjust after Subtraction.

Corrects result in AH and AL after subtraction when
working with BCD values.
Algorithm:

 AL = AL - 6
 AH = AH - 1
 AF = 1
 CF = 1
else
AAS No operands  AF = 0
 CF = 0
in both cases:
clear the high nibble of AL.
Example:
MOV AX, 02FFh ; AH = 02, AL = 0FFh
AAS ; AH = 01, AL = 09
RET
C ZSOPA
r ? ? ? ? r
Add with Carry.

REG,
memory
Algorithm:
memory,
REG
operand1 = operand1 + operand2 + CF
ADC REG, REG
memory,
Example:
immediate
STC ; set CF = 1
REG,
MOV AL, 5 ; AL = 5
immediate
ADC AL, 1 ; AL = 7
RET
Page 110 of 161

C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Add.
REG, Algorithm:
memory
memory, operand1 = operand1 + operand2
REG
ADD REG, REG Example:
memory, MOV AL, 5 ; AL = 5
immediate ADD AL, -3 ; AL = 2
REG, RET
immediate C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Logical AND between all bits of two operands. Result

is stored in operand1.
These rules apply:
REG, 1 AND 1 = 1
memory 1 AND 0 = 0
memory, 0 AND 1 = 0
REG 0 AND 0 = 0
AND REG, REG
memory,
immediate Example:
REG, MOV AL, 'a' ; AL = 01100001b
immediate AND AL, 11011111b ; AL = 01000001b ('A')
RET
C ZSOP
0 r r 0 r
CALL procedure Transfers control to procedure, return address is (IP) is

name pushed to stack. 4-byte address may be entered in this form:
label 1234h:5678h, first value is a segment second value is an
4-byte offset (this is a far call, so CS is also pushed to stack).
address
Example:
Page 111 of 161

ORG 100h ; for COM file.
CALL p1
ADD AX, 1
RET ; return to OS.
p1 PROC ; procedure declaration.

MOV AX, 1234h
p1 ENDP
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Convert byte into word.
Algorithm:
if high bit of AL = 1 then:

 AH = 255 (0FFh)
else
 AH = 0
CBW No operands
Example:
MOV AX, 0 ; AH = 0, AL = 0
MOV AL, -5 ; AX = 000FBh (251)
CBW ; AX = 0FFFBh (-5)
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Clear Carry flag.

Algorithm:
CF = 0
CLC No operands
C
0
Page 112 of 161

Clear Direction flag. SI and DI will be incremented by
chain instructions: CMPSB, CMPSW, LODSB,
LODSW, MOVSB, MOVSW, STOSB, STOSW.
Algorithm:
CLD No operands
DF = 0
D
0
Clear Interrupt enable flag. This disables hardware

interrupts.
Algorithm:
CLI No operands IF = 0
I
0
Complement Carry flag. Inverts value of CF.

Algorithm:
if CF = 1 then CF = 0
if CF = 0 then CF = 1
CMC No operands
C
r
CMP REG, Compare.

memory
memory, Algorithm:
REG
REG, REG operand1 - operand2
memory,
immediate result is not stored anywhere, flags are set (OF, SF, ZF, AF,
REG, PF, CF) according to result.
immediate
Example:
MOV AL, 5
Page 113 of 161

MOV BL, 5
CMP AL, BL ; AL = 5, ZF = 1 (so equal!)
RET
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Compare bytes: ES:[DI] from DS:[SI].
Algorithm:
 DS:[SI] - ES:[DI]
 set flags according to result:
OF, SF, ZF, AF, PF, CF
 if DF = 0 then
o SI = SI + 1
o DI = DI + 1
CMPSB No operands else
o SI = SI - 1
o DI = DI - 1
Example:
open cmpsb.asm from c:\emu8086\examples
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
CMPSW No operands Compare words: ES:[DI] from DS:[SI].
Algorithm:
 DS:[SI] - ES:[DI]
 if DF = 0 then
o SI = SI + 2
o DI = DI + 2
else
o SI = SI - 2
o DI = DI - 2
Page 114 of 161

example:
open cmpsw.asm from c:\emu8086\examples
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Convert Word to Double word.

Algorithm:
if high bit of AX = 1 then:

 DX = 65535 (0FFFFh)
else
 DX = 0
CWD No operands
Example:
MOV DX, 0 ; DX = 0
MOV AX, 0 ; AX = 0
MOV AX, -5 ; DX AX = 00000h:0FFFBh
CWD ; DX AX = 0FFFFh:0FFFBh
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Decimal adjust After Addition.

Corrects the result of addition of two packed BCD values.
Algorithm:

 AL = AL + 6
 AF = 1
DAA No operands
if AL > 9Fh or CF = 1 then:
 AL = AL + 60h
 CF = 1
Example:
MOV AL, 0Fh ; AL = 0Fh (15)
DAA ; AL = 15h
RET
Page 115 of 161

C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Decimal adjust After Subtraction.

Corrects the result of subtraction of two packed BCD
values.
Algorithm:

 AL = AL - 6
 AF = 1
if AL > 9Fh or CF = 1 then:

DAS No operands  AL = AL - 60h
 CF = 1
Example:
MOV AL, 0FFh ; AL = 0FFh (-1)
DAS ; AL = 99h, CF = 1
RET
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Decrement.
Algorithm:
operand = operand - 1
REG
DEC memory Example:
MOV AL, 255 ; AL = 0FFh (255 or -1)
DEC AL ; AL = 0FEh (254 or -2)
RET
Z SOPA
r r r r r
CF - unchanged!
DIV REG Unsigned divide.

memory
Algorithm:
Page 116 of 161

AL = AX / operand
AH = remainder (modulus)

DX = remainder (modulus)
Example:
MOV AX, 203 ; AX = 00CBh
MOV BL, 4
DIV BL ; AL = 50 (32h), AH = 3
RET
C ZSOPA
? ? ? ? ? ?
Halt the System.

Example:
MOV AX, 5
HLT No operands HLT
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Signed divide.
Algorithm:

AL = AX / operand
AH = remainder (modulus)
REG when operand is a word:

IDIV memory AX = (DX AX) / operand
DX = remainder (modulus)
Example:
MOV AX, -203 ; AX = 0FF35h
MOV BL, 4
IDIV BL ; AL = -50 (0CEh), AH = -3 (0FDh)
RET
C ZSOPA
? ? ? ? ? ?
Page 117 of 161

Signed multiply.
Algorithm:

AX = AL * operand.

REG (DX AX) = AX * operand.
IMUL memory
Example:
MOV AL, -2
MOV BL, -4
IMUL BL ; AX = 8
RET
C ZSOPA
r ? ? r ? ?
CF=OF=0 when result fits into operand of IMUL.
Input from port into AL or AX.

Second operand is a port number. If required to access
port number over 255 - DX register should be used.
AL, im.byte Example:
AL, DX IN AX, 4 ; get status of traffic lights.
IN
AX, im.byte IN AL, 7 ; get status of stepper-motor.
AX, DX C ZSOPA
unchanged
Increment.
Algorithm:
operand = operand + 1
REG Example:
INC memory MOV AL, 4
INC AL ; AL = 5
RET
Z SOPA
r r r r r
CF - unchanged!
INT immediate Interrupt numbered by immediate byte (0..255).
Page 118 of 161

Algorithm:
Push to stack:
o flags register
o CS
o IP
 IF = 0
 Transfer control to interrupt procedure
byte
Example:
MOV AH, 0Eh ; teletype.
MOV AL, 'A'
INT 10h ; BIOS interrupt.
RET
C ZSOPAI
unchanged 0
Interrupt 4 if Overflow flag is 1.

Algorithm:
if OF = 1 then INT 4
Example:
INTO No operands ; -5 - 127 = -132 (not in -128..127)
; the result of SUB is wrong (124),
; so OF = 1 is set:
MOV AL, -5
SUB AL, 127 ; AL = 7Ch (124)
INTO ; process error.
RET
Interrupt Return.
Algorithm:
Pop from stack:

o IP
o CS
IRET No operands
o flags register
C ZSOPA
popped
Page 119 of 161

Short Jump if first operand is Above second operand
(as set by CMP instruction). Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if (CF = 0) and (ZF = 0) then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 250
CMP AL, 5
JA label
JA label1
PRINT 'AL is not above 5'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is above 5'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Above or Equal to second

operand (as set by CMP instruction). Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if CF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 5
CMP AL, 5
JAE label
JAE label1
PRINT 'AL is not above or equal to 5'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is above or equal to 5'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JB label Short Jump if first operand is Below second operand (as set
by CMP instruction). Unsigned.
Page 120 of 161

Algorithm:
if CF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 1
CMP AL, 5
JB label1
PRINT 'AL is not below 5'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is below 5'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Below or Equal to second

operand (as set by CMP instruction). Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if CF = 1 or ZF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 5
CMP AL, 5
JBE label
JBE label1
PRINT 'AL is not below or equal to 5'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is below or equal to 5'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JC label Short Jump if Carry flag is set to 1.
Algorithm:
if CF = 1 then jump
Example:
Page 121 of 161

ORG 100h
MOV AL, 255
ADD AL, 1
JC label1
PRINT 'no carry.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'has carry.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if CX register is 0.
Algorithm:
if CX = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV CX, 0
JCXZ label1
JCXZ label
PRINT 'CX is not zero.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'CX is zero.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JE label Short Jump if first operand is Equal to second operand (as

set by CMP instruction). Signed/Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if ZF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 5
CMP AL, 5
JE label1
Page 122 of 161

PRINT 'AL is not equal to 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is equal to 5.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Greater then second operand

(as set by CMP instruction). Signed.
Algorithm:
if (ZF = 0) and (SF = OF) then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 5
CMP AL, -5
JG label
JG label1
PRINT 'AL is not greater -5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is greater -5.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JGE label Short Jump if first operand is Greater or Equal to second

operand (as set by CMP instruction). Signed.
Algorithm:
if SF = OF then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 2
CMP AL, -5
JGE label1
PRINT 'AL < -5'
JMP exit
label1:
Page 123 of 161

PRINT 'AL >= -5'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Less then second

Algorithm:
if SF <> OF then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, -2
CMP AL, 5
JL label
JL label1
PRINT 'AL >= 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL < 5.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Less or Equal to second

Algorithm:
if SF <> OF or ZF = 1 then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
JLE label MOV AL, -2
CMP AL, 5
JLE label1
PRINT 'AL > 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL <= 5.'
exit:
RET
Page 124 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Unconditional Jump. Transfers control to another part

of the program. 4-byte address may be entered in this
form: 1234h:5678h, first value is a segment second value is
an offset.
Algorithm:
always jump
Example:
label
4-byte
JMP ORG 100h
address
MOV AL, 5
JMP label1 ; jump over 2 lines!
PRINT 'Not Jumped!'
MOV AL, 0
label1:
PRINT 'Got Here!'
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Above second operand

Algorithm:
if CF = 1 or ZF = 1 then jump
Example:
JNA label ORG 100h

MOV AL, 2
CMP AL, 5
JNA label1
PRINT 'AL is above 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is not above 5.'
exit:
RET
Page 125 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Above and Not

Equal to second operand (as set by CMP instruction).
Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if CF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 2
JNAE label
CMP AL, 5
JNAE label1
PRINT 'AL >= 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL < 5.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Below second operand

Algorithm:
if CF = 0 then jump
Example:
JNB label ORG 100h

MOV AL, 7
CMP AL, 5
JNB label1
PRINT 'AL < 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL >= 5.'
exit:
RET
Page 126 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Below and Not

Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if (CF = 0) and (ZF = 0) then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 7
JNBE label
CMP AL, 5
JNBE label1
PRINT 'AL <= 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL > 5.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if Carry flag is set to 0.
Algorithm:
if CF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
JNC label MOV AL, 2
ADD AL, 3
JNC label1
PRINT 'has carry.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'no carry.'
exit:
RET
Page 127 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Equal to second

operand (as set by CMP instruction). Signed/Unsigned.
Algorithm:
if ZF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 2
JNE label
CMP AL, 3
JNE label1
PRINT 'AL = 3.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'Al <> 3.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Greater then second

Algorithm:
if (ZF = 1) and (SF <> OF) then jump

Example:
JNG label ORG 100h

MOV AL, 2
CMP AL, 3
JNG label1
PRINT 'AL > 3.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'Al <= 3.'
exit:
RET
Page 128 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Greater and Not

Signed.
Algorithm:
if SF <> OF then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 2
JNGE label
CMP AL, 3
JNGE label1
PRINT 'AL >= 3.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'Al < 3.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Less then second operand

(as set by CMP instruction). Signed.
Algorithm:
if SF = OF then jump
Example:
JNL label ORG 100h

MOV AL, 2
CMP AL, -3
JNL label1
PRINT 'AL < -3.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'Al >= -3.'
exit:
RET
Page 129 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if first operand is Not Less and Not Equal

to second operand (as set by CMP instruction). Signed.
Algorithm:
if (SF = OF) and (ZF = 0) then jump

Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 2
JNLE label
CMP AL, -3
JNLE label1
PRINT 'AL <= -3.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'Al > -3.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JNO label Short Jump if Not Overflow.
Algorithm:
if OF = 0 then jump
Example:
; -5 - 2 = -7 (inside -128..127)
; the result of SUB is correct,
; so OF = 0:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, -5
SUB AL, 2 ; AL = 0F9h (-7)
JNO label1
PRINT 'overflow!'
JMP exit
label1:
Page 130 of 161

PRINT 'no overflow.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if No Parity (odd). Only 8 low bits of

result are checked. Set by CMP, SUB, ADD, TEST,
AND, OR, XOR instructions.
Algorithm:
if PF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 00000111b ; AL = 7
JNP label
OR AL, 0 ; just set flags.
JNP label1
PRINT 'parity even.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'parity odd.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JNS label Short Jump if Not Signed (if positive). Set by CMP, SUB,
ADD, TEST, AND, OR, XOR instructions.
Algorithm:
if SF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 00000111b ; AL = 7
JNS label1
PRINT 'signed.'
JMP exit
label1:
Page 131 of 161

PRINT 'not signed.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if Not Zero (not equal). Set by CMP, SUB,

Algorithm:
if ZF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 00000111b ; AL = 7
JNZ label OR AL, 0 ; just set flags.
JNZ label1
PRINT 'zero.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'not zero.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JO label Short Jump if Overflow.
Algorithm:
if OF = 1 then jump
Example:
; -5 - 127 = -132 (not in -128..127)
; the result of SUB is wrong (124),
; so OF = 1 is set:
org 100h
MOV AL, -5
SUB AL, 127 ; AL = 7Ch (124)
JO label1
PRINT 'no overflow.'
Page 132 of 161

JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'overflow!'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if Parity (even). Only 8 low bits of result

are checked. Set by CMP, SUB, ADD, TEST, AND,
OR, XOR instructions.
Algorithm:
if PF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 00000101b ; AL = 5
JP label
JP label1
PRINT 'parity odd.'
JMP exit
label1:
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JPE label Short Jump if Parity Even. Only 8 low bits of result are
checked. Set by CMP, SUB, ADD, TEST, AND, OR, XOR
instructions.
Algorithm:
if PF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 00000101b ; AL = 5
JPE label1
Page 133 of 161

PRINT 'parity odd.'
JMP exit
label1:
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if Parity Odd. Only 8 low bits of result are

checked. Set by CMP, SUB, ADD, TEST, AND, OR,
XOR instructions.
Algorithm:
if PF = 0 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 00000111b ; AL = 7
JPO label
JPO label1
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'parity odd.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
JS label Short Jump if Signed (if negative). Set by CMP, SUB,

Algorithm:
if SF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 10000000b ; AL = -128
JS label1
Page 134 of 161

PRINT 'not signed.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'signed.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Short Jump if Zero (equal). Set by CMP, SUB, ADD,

TEST, AND, OR, XOR instructions.
Algorithm:
if ZF = 1 then jump
Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AL, 5
JZ label CMP AL, 5
JZ label1
PRINT 'AL is not equal to 5.'
JMP exit
label1:
PRINT 'AL is equal to 5.'
exit:
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Load AH from 8 low bits of Flags register.

Algorithm:
AH = flags register
AH bit: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
LAHF No operands [SF] [ZF] [0] [AF] [0] [PF] [1] [CF]
bits 1, 3, 5 are reserved.
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Page 135 of 161

Load memory double word into word register and DS.
Algorithm:
 REG = first word

 DS = second word
Example:
ORG 100h
REG, LDS AX, m

LDS
memory
RET
m DW 1234h
DW 5678h
END
AX is set to 1234h, DS is set to 5678h.
C ZSOPA
unchanged
LEA REG, Load Effective Address.

memory
Algorithm:
 REG = address of memory (offset)
Generally this instruction is replaced by MOV when

assembling when possible.
Example:
ORG 100h
LEA AX, m
RET
m DW 1234h
Page 136 of 161

END
AX is set to: 0104h.

LEA instruction takes 3 bytes, RET takes 1 byte, we start at
100h, so the address of 'm' is 104h.
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Load memory double word into word register and ES.
Algorithm:
 REG = first word

 ES = second word
Example:
ORG 100h
REG, LES AX, m

LES
memory
RET
m DW 1234h
DW 5678h
END
AX is set to 1234h, ES is set to 5678h.
C ZSOPA
unchanged
LODSB No operands Load byte at DS:[SI] into AL. Update SI.
Algorithm:
 AL = DS:[SI]
 if DF = 0 then
o SI = SI + 1
Page 137 of 161

else
o SI = SI - 1
Example:
ORG 100h
LEA SI, a1
MOV CX, 5
MOV AH, 0Eh
m: LODSB
INT 10h
LOOP m
RET
a1 DB 'H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'

C ZSOPA
unchanged
LODSW No operands Load word at DS:[SI] into AX. Update SI.
Algorithm:
 AX = DS:[SI]
 if DF = 0 then
o SI = SI + 2
else
o SI = SI - 2
Example:
ORG 100h
LEA SI, a1
MOV CX, 5
REP LODSW ; finally there will be 555h in AX.
RET
Page 138 of 161

a1 dw 111h, 222h, 333h, 444h, 555h
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Decrease CX, jump to label if CX not zero.

Algorithm:
 CX = CX - 1
 if CX <> 0 then
o jump
else
o no jump, continue
LOOP label Example:

ORG 100h
MOV CX, 5
label1:
PRINTN 'loop!'
LOOP label1
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
LOOPE label Decrease CX, jump to label if CX not zero and Equal (ZF =
1).
Algorithm:
 CX = CX - 1
 if (CX <> 0) and (ZF = 1) then
o jump
else
o no jump, continue
Example:
; Loop until result fits into AL alone,
; or 5 times. The result will be over 255
; on third loop (100+100+100),
Page 139 of 161

; so loop will exit.
ORG 100h
MOV AX, 0
MOV CX, 5
label1:
PUTC '*'
ADD AX, 100
CMP AH, 0
LOOPE label1
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Decrease CX, jump to label if CX not zero and Not Equal

(ZF = 0).
Algorithm:
 CX = CX - 1
o jump
else
o no jump, continue
Example:
; Loop until '7' is found,
LOOPNE label
; or 5 times.
ORG 100h
MOV SI, 0
MOV CX, 5
label1:
PUTC '*'
MOV AL, v1[SI]
INC SI ; next byte (SI=SI+1).
CMP AL, 7
LOOPNE label1
RET
v1 db 9, 8, 7, 6, 5
Page 140 of 161

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Decrease CX, jump to label if CX not zero and ZF = 0.
Algorithm:
 CX = CX - 1
o jump
else
o no jump, continue
Example:
; Loop until '7' is found,
; or 5 times.
LOOPNZ label include 'emu8086.inc'
ORG 100h
MOV SI, 0
MOV CX, 5
label1:
PUTC '*'
MOV AL, v1[SI]
INC SI ; next byte (SI=SI+1).
CMP AL, 7
LOOPNZ label1
RET
v1 db 9, 8, 7, 6, 5
C ZSOPA
unchanged
LOOPZ label Decrease CX, jump to label if CX not zero and ZF = 1.
Algorithm:
 CX = CX - 1
o jump
Page 141 of 161

else
o no jump, continue
Example:
; Loop until result fits into AL alone,
; or 5 times. The result will be over 255
; on third loop (100+100+100),
; so loop will exit.
ORG 100h
MOV AX, 0
MOV CX, 5
label1:
PUTC '*'
ADD AX, 100
CMP AH, 0
LOOPZ label1
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
MOV REG, Copy operand2 to operand1.

memory
memory, The MOV instruction cannot:
REG  set the value of the CS and IP registers.
REG, REG  copy value of one segment register to another
memory, segment register (should copy to general register
immediate first).
REG,  copy immediate value to segment register (should
immediate copy to general register first).
SREG,
memory Algorithm:
memory,
SREG operand1 = operand2
REG, SREG
SREG, REG Example:
ORG 100h
MOV AX, 0B800h ; set AX = B800h (VGA memory).
MOV DS, AX ; copy value of AX to DS.
MOV CL, 'A' ; CL = 41h (ASCII code).
Page 142 of 161

MOV CH, 01011111b ; CL = color attribute.
MOV BX, 15Eh ; BX = position on screen.
MOV [BX], CX ; w.[0B800h:015Eh] = CX.
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Copy byte at DS:[SI] to ES:[DI]. Update SI and DI.
Algorithm:
 ES:[DI] = DS:[SI]
 if DF = 0 then
o SI = SI + 1
o DI = DI + 1
else
o SI = SI - 1
o DI = DI - 1
Example:
MOVSB No operands
ORG 100h
CLD
LEA SI, a1
LEA DI, a2
MOV CX, 5
REP MOVSB
RET
a1 DB 1,2,3,4,5
a2 DB 5 DUP(0)
C ZSOPA
unchanged
MOVSW No operands Copy word at DS:[SI] to ES:[DI]. Update SI and DI.
Algorithm:
 ES:[DI] = DS:[SI]
 if DF = 0 then
o SI = SI + 2
Page 143 of 161

o DI = DI + 2
else
o SI = SI - 2
o DI = DI - 2
Example:
ORG 100h
CLD
LEA SI, a1
LEA DI, a2
MOV CX, 5
REP MOVSW
RET
a1 DW 1,2,3,4,5
a2 DW 5 DUP(0)
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Unsigned multiply.
Algorithm:

AX = AL * operand.

REG (DX AX) = AX * operand.
MUL memory
Example:
MOV AL, 200 ; AL = 0C8h
MOV BL, 4
MUL BL ; AX = 0320h (800)
RET
C ZSOPA
r ? ? r ? ?
CF=OF=0 when high section of the result is zero.
NEG REG Negate. Makes operand negative (two's complement).

memory
Page 144 of 161

Algorithm:
 Invert all bits of the operand

 Add 1 to inverted operand
Example:
MOV AL, 5 ; AL = 05h
NEG AL ; AL = 0FBh (-5)
NEG AL ; AL = 05h (5)
RET
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
No Operation.
Algorithm:
 Do nothing
Example:
; do nothing, 3 times:
NOP No operands
NOP
NOP
NOP
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Invert each bit of the operand.

Algorithm:
 if bit is 1 turn it to 0.
 if bit is 0 turn it to 1.
REG
NOT memory Example:
MOV AL, 00011011b
NOT AL ; AL = 11100100b
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
OR REG, Logical OR between all bits of two operands. Result is
Page 145 of 161

stored in first operand.
These rules apply:
1 OR 1 = 1
memory 1 OR 0 = 1
memory, 0 OR 1 = 1
REG 0 OR 0 = 0
REG, REG
memory,
immediate Example:
REG, MOV AL, 'A' ; AL = 01000001b
immediate OR AL, 00100000b ; AL = 01100001b ('a')
RET
C ZSOPA
0 r r 0 r ?
Output from AL or AX to port.

First operand is a port number. If required to access
port number over 255 - DX register should be used.
Example:
im.byte, AL MOV AX, 0FFFh ; Turn on all
im.byte, AX OUT 4, AX ; traffic lights.
OUT
DX, AL
DX, AX MOV AL, 100b ; Turn on the third
OUT 7, AL ; magnet of the stepper-motor.
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Get 16 bit value from the stack.

Algorithm:
 operand = SS:[SP] (top of the stack)

 SP = SP + 2
REG
POP SREG Example:
memory MOV AX, 1234h
PUSH AX
POP DX ; DX = 1234h
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Page 146 of 161

Pop all general purpose registers DI, SI, BP, SP, BX, DX,
CX, AX from the stack.
SP value is ignored, it is Popped but not set to SP register).
Note: this instruction works only on 80186 CPU and later!
Algorithm:
 POP DI
 POP SI
POPA No operands  POP BP
 POP xx (SP value ignored)
 POP BX
 POP DX
 POP CX
 POP AX
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Get flags register from the stack.

Algorithm:
 flags = SS:[SP] (top of the stack)

POPF No operands  SP = SP + 2
C ZSOPA
popped
PUSH REG Store 16 bit value in the stack.

SREG
memory Note: PUSH immediate works only on 80186 CPU and
immediate later!
Algorithm:
 SP = SP - 2
 SS:[SP] (top of the stack) = operand
Example:
MOV AX, 1234h
PUSH AX
POP DX ; DX = 1234h
Page 147 of 161

RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Push all general purpose registers AX, CX, DX, BX, SP,
BP, SI, DI in the stack.
Original value of SP register (before PUSHA) is used.
Note: this instruction works only on 80186 CPU and

later!
Algorithm:
 PUSH AX
 PUSH CX
PUSHA No operands
 PUSH DX
 PUSH BX
 PUSH SP
 PUSH BP
 PUSH SI
 PUSH DI
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Store flags register in the stack.

Algorithm:
 SP = SP - 2
PUSHF No operands  SS:[SP] (top of the stack) = flags
C ZSOPA
unchanged
RCL memory, Rotate operand1 left through Carry Flag. The number of
immediate rotates is set by operand2.
REG, When immediate is greater then 1, assembler generates
immediate several RCL xx, 1 instructions because 8086 has machine
code only for this instruction (the same principle works for
memory, CL all other shift/rotate instructions).
REG, CL
Page 148 of 161

Algorithm:
shift all bits left, the bit that goes off is set to CF and
previous value of CF is inserted to the right-most
position.
Example:
STC ; set carry (CF=1).
MOV AL, 1Ch ; AL = 00011100b
RCL AL, 1 ; AL = 00111001b, CF=0.
RET
C O
r r
OF=0 if first operand keeps original sign.
Rotate operand1 right through Carry Flag. The number

of rotates is set by operand2.
Algorithm:
shift all bits right, the bit that goes off is set to CF
memory,
and previous value of CF is inserted to the left-most
immediate
position.
REG,
RCR immediate
Example:
STC ; set carry (CF=1).
memory, CL
MOV AL, 1Ch ; AL = 00011100b
REG, CL
RCR AL, 1 ; AL = 10001110b, CF=0.
RET
C O
r r
REP chain Repeat following MOVSB, MOVSW, LODSB, LODSW,

instruction STOSB, STOSW instructions CX times.
Algorithm:
check_cx:
if CX <> 0 then
 do following chain instruction
 CX = CX - 1
 go back to check_cx
else
Page 149 of 161

 exit from REP cycle
Z
r
Repeat following CMPSB, CMPSW, SCASB, SCASW

instructions while ZF = 1 (result is Equal), maximum
CX times.
Algorithm:
check_cx:
if CX <> 0 then
 CX = CX - 1
 if ZF = 1 then:
o go back to check_cx
chain
REPE
instruction else
o exit from REPE cycle
else
 exit from REPE cycle
example:
open cmpsb.asm from c:\emu8086\examples
Z
r
REPNE chain Repeat following CMPSB, CMPSW, SCASB, SCASW

instruction instructions while ZF = 0 (result is Not Equal), maximum
CX times.
Algorithm:
check_cx:
if CX <> 0 then
 CX = CX - 1
 if ZF = 0 then:
Page 150 of 161

else
o exit from REPNE cycle
else
 exit from REPNE cycle
Z
r
Repeat following CMPSB, CMPSW, SCASB, SCASW

instructions while ZF = 0 (result is Not Zero),
maximum CX times.
Algorithm:
check_cx:
if CX <> 0 then
 CX = CX - 1
 if ZF = 0 then:
chain
REPNZ o go back to check_cx
instruction
else
o exit from REPNZ cycle
else
 exit from REPNZ cycle
Z
r
REPZ chain Repeat following CMPSB, CMPSW, SCASB, SCASW

instruction instructions while ZF = 1 (result is Zero), maximum CX
times.
Algorithm:
check_cx:
Page 151 of 161

if CX <> 0 then
 CX = CX - 1
 if ZF = 1 then:
else
o exit from REPZ cycle
else
 exit from REPZ cycle
Z
r
Return from near procedure.
Algorithm:
 Pop from stack:

o IP
 if immediate operand is present: SP = SP + operand
Example:
ORG 100h ; for COM file.

No operands
CALL p1
RET or even
immediate
ADD AX, 1
RET ; return to OS.
p1 PROC ; procedure declaration.

MOV AX, 1234h
p1 ENDP
C ZSOPA
unchanged
RETF No operands Return from Far procedure.

or even
immediate
Page 152 of 161

Algorithm:
 Pop from stack:

o IP
o CS
 if immediate operand is present: SP = SP + operand
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Rotate operand1 left. The number of rotates is set by

operand2.
Algorithm:
memory,
immediate shift all bits left, the bit that goes off is set to CF and
REG, the same bit is inserted to the right-most position.
ROL immediate Example:
MOV AL, 1Ch ; AL = 00011100b
memory, CL ROL AL, 1 ; AL = 00111000b, CF=0.
REG, CL RET
C O
r r
Rotate operand1 right. The number of rotates is set by

operand2.
Algorithm:
memory,
immediate shift all bits right, the bit that goes off is set to CF
REG, and the same bit is inserted to the left-most position.
ROR immediate Example:
MOV AL, 1Ch ; AL = 00011100b
memory, CL ROR AL, 1 ; AL = 00001110b, CF=0.
REG, CL RET
C O
r r
SAHF No operands Store AH register into low 8 bits of Flags register.
Algorithm:
flags register = AH
Page 153 of 161

AH bit: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
[SF] [ZF] [0] [AF] [0] [PF] [1] [CF]
bits 1, 3, 5 are reserved.
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Shift Arithmetic operand1 Left. The number of shifts is

set by operand2.
Algorithm:
memory,
 Shift all bits left, the bit that goes off is set to CF.
immediate
 Zero bit is inserted to the right-most position.
REG,
SAL immediate
Example:
MOV AL, 0E0h ; AL = 11100000b
memory, CL
SAL AL, 1 ; AL = 11000000b, CF=1.
REG, CL
RET
C O
r r
Shift Arithmetic operand1 Right. The number of shifts is set

by operand2.
Algorithm:
 Shift all bits right, the bit that goes off is set to CF.
 The sign bit that is inserted to the left-most position
memory, has the same value as before shift.
immediate
REG, Example:
SAR immediate MOV AL, 0E0h ; AL = 11100000b
SAR AL, 1 ; AL = 11110000b, CF=0.
memory, CL
REG, CL MOV BL, 4Ch ; BL = 01001100b
SAR BL, 1 ; BL = 00100110b, CF=0.
RET
C O
r r
Page 154 of 161

Subtract with Borrow.
Algorithm:
REG, operand1 = operand1 - operand2 - CF

memory
memory, Example:
REG STC
SBB REG, REG MOV AL, 5
memory, SBB AL, 3 ; AL = 5 - 3 - 1 = 1
immediate
REG, RET
immediate C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Compare bytes: AL from ES:[DI].
Algorithm:
 ES:[DI] - AL
 if DF = 0 then
o DI = DI + 1
SCASB No operands
else
o DI = DI - 1
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
SCASW No operands Compare words: AX from ES:[DI].
Algorithm:
 ES:[DI] - AX
 if DF = 0 then
o DI = DI + 2
else
Page 155 of 161

o DI = DI - 2
C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Shift operand1 Left. The number of shifts is set by

operand2.
Algorithm:
memory,  Shift all bits left, the bit that goes off is set to CF.
immediate  Zero bit is inserted to the right-most position.
REG,
SHL immediate Example:
MOV AL, 11100000b
memory, CL SHL AL, 1 ; AL = 11000000b, CF=1.
REG, CL
RET
C O
r r
Shift operand1 Right. The number of shifts is set by

operand2.
Algorithm:
memory,  Shift all bits right, the bit that goes off is set to CF.
immediate  Zero bit is inserted to the left-most position.
REG,
SHR immediate Example:
MOV AL, 00000111b
memory, CL SHR AL, 1 ; AL = 00000011b, CF=1.
REG, CL
RET
C O
r r
STC No operands Set Carry flag.
Algorithm:
Page 156 of 161

CF = 1
C
1
Set Direction flag. SI and DI will be decremented by

chain instructions: CMPSB, CMPSW, LODSB,
LODSW, MOVSB, MOVSW, STOSB, STOSW.
Algorithm:
STD No operands
DF = 1
D
1
Set Interrupt enable flag. This enables hardware

interrupts.
Algorithm:
STI No operands IF = 1
I
1
STOSB No operands Store byte in AL into ES:[DI]. Update DI.
Algorithm:
 ES:[DI] = AL
 if DF = 0 then
o DI = DI + 1
else
o DI = DI - 1
Example:
ORG 100h
LEA DI, a1
Page 157 of 161

MOV AL, 12h
MOV CX, 5
REP STOSB
RET
a1 DB 5 dup(0)
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Store word in AX into ES:[DI]. Update DI.
Algorithm:
 ES:[DI] = AX
 if DF = 0 then
o DI = DI + 2
else
o DI = DI - 2
Example:
STOSW No operands ORG 100h
LEA DI, a1
MOV AX, 1234h
MOV CX, 5
REP STOSW
RET
a1 DW 5 dup(0)
C ZSOPA
unchanged
SUB REG, Subtract.

memory
memory, Algorithm:
REG
REG, REG operand1 = operand1 - operand2
Page 158 of 161

Example:
MOV AL, 5
memory, SUB AL, 1 ; AL = 4
immediate
REG, RET
immediate C ZSOPA
r r r r r r
Logical AND between all bits of two operands for flags

only. These flags are effected: ZF, SF, PF. Result is not
stored anywhere.
These rules apply:

REG, 1 AND 1 = 1
memory 1 AND 0 = 0
memory, 0 AND 1 = 0
REG 0 AND 0 = 0
TEST REG, REG
memory,
immediate Example:
REG, MOV AL, 00000101b
immediate TEST AL, 1 ; ZF = 0.
TEST AL, 10b ; ZF = 1.
RET
C ZSOP
0 r r 0 r
Exchange values of two operands.

Algorithm:
operand1 < - > operand2
REG, Example:
memory MOV AL, 5
XCHG memory, MOV AH, 2
REG XCHG AL, AH ; AL = 2, AH = 5
REG, REG XCHG AL, AH ; AL = 5, AH = 2
RET
C ZSOPA
unchanged
Page 159 of 161

Translate byte from table.
Copy value of memory byte at DS:[BX + unsigned
AL] to AL register.
Algorithm:
AL = DS:[BX + unsigned AL]
Example:
ORG 100h
XLATB No operands
LEA BX, dat
MOV AL, 2
XLATB ; AL = 33h
RET
dat DB 11h, 22h, 33h, 44h, 55h

C ZSOPA
unchanged
Logical XOR (Exclusive OR) between all bits of two

operands. Result is stored in first operand.
These rules apply:
REG, 1 XOR 1 = 0
memory 1 XOR 0 = 1
memory, 0 XOR 1 = 1
REG 0 XOR 0 = 0
XOR REG, REG
memory,
immediate Example:
REG, MOV AL, 00000111b
immediate XOR AL, 00000010b ; AL = 00000101b
RET
C ZSOPA
0 r r 0 r ?
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8086 Tutorial

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Numbering Systems Tutorial

These digits can represent any value, for example: 754.

And thus the base is 2.

The binary number 10100101b equals to decimal value of 165:

Hexadecimal System uses 16 digits:

And thus the base is 16.

Hexadecimal numbers are compact and easy to read.

Decimal Binary Hexadecimal

The hexadecimal number 1234h is equal to decimal value of 4660:

The remainders are then used to represent a value in that system.

As you see we got this hexadecimal number: 27h.

Here is another more complex example:

As you see we got this binary number: 1010101101011100b

These operation are supported:

~ not (inverts all bits).

Binary numbers must have "b" suffix, example:

Octal (base 8) numbers must have "o" suffix, example:

8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 1)

what is assembly language?

inside the CPU

general purpose registers

 CS - points at the segment containing the current program.

the address formed with 2 registers is called an effective address.

special purpose registers

 IP - the instruction pointer.

8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 2)

[BX + SI] [SI] [BX + SI + d8]

[SI + d8] [BX + SI + d16] [SI + d16]

displacement is a signed value, so it can be both positive or negative.

for example, let's assume that DS = 100, BX = 30, SI = 70.

in order to say the compiler about data type,

byte ptr - for byte.

b. - for byte ptr

 copies the second operand (source) to the first operand (destination).

 the source operand can be an immediate value, general-purpose register or

these types of operands are supported:

MOV REG, memory

memory: [BX], [BX+SI+7], variable, etc...

immediate: 5, -24, 3Fh, 10001101b, etc...

for segment registers only these types of MOV are supported:

MOV SREG, memory

SREG: DS, ES, SS, and only as second operand: CS.

memory: [BX], [BX+SI+7], variable, etc...

here is a short program that demonstrates the use of MOV instruction:

how to do copy & paste:

2. press Ctrl + C combination to copy.

you should see something like that when program finishes:

8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 3)

Our compiler supports two types of variables: BYTE and WORD.

Syntax for a variable declaration:

DB - stays for Define Byte.

MOV AL, var1

RET ; stops the program.

The offset of VAR1 is 0108h, and full address is 0B56:0108.

Here are some array definition examples:

a DB 48h, 65h, 6Ch, 6Ch, 6Fh, 00h

number DUP ( value(s) )

one more example:

Getting the Address of a Variable

b. - for BYTE PTR

Here is first example:

MOV AL, VAR1 ; check value of

LEA BX, VAR1 ; get address of

MOV BYTE PTR [BX], 44h ; modify